KETCHIKAN, Alaska (AP) - A Ketchikan mariculture nonprofit that previously secured funding from the Ketchikan Gateway Borough is struggling after water quality led to losses of stock.
Nonprofit shellfish hatchery OceansAlaska aims to support its operations by selling oyster and geoduck seeds, but water issues led to only $4,704 worth of shellfish seed being sold in 2015, the Ketchikan Daily News reported (https://bit.ly/29xp2kQ). OceansAlaska has since sold seed worth $23,100 in 2016 but is facing a funding gap.
“Yes, OceansAlaska can survive, and yes, it can survive on seed sales, but it is going to need to find alternate finance and that’s what we’re working on right now,” outgoing hatchery manager Ron Zebal said at an informational meeting with the Ketchikan Gateway Borough Assembly.
The assembly gave OceansAlaska a $600,000 loan last year. Zebal did not request any additional funding from the borough and is looking for financing from other sources, including through the state’s mariculture revolving loan fund.
OceansAlaska’s larval oysters were affected by acidic water during the fall and winter. Southeast Alaska doesn’t suffer from the same level of ocean acidification as the Wes Coast, but local water does become more acidic.
“It’s not as if the water is bad here,” Zebal told the Assembly. “The water here in the wintertime is very clean in terms of dissolved organics.”
Eventually the hatchery calmed the problem with soda ash, but not until after many oysters were lost.
In addition to the oyster issues, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game began enforcing restrictions that ended OceansAlaska’s geoduck program. OceansAlaska is hoping to partner with a Seward hatchery, Aluutiq Pride, to meet Fish and Game requirements by spawning geoducks to the north and raising them to a larger size out of Ketchikan.
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Information from: Ketchikan (Alaska) Daily News, https://www.ketchikandailynews.com
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