A G R I C U LT U R E
Blue Acres Is the Place to Be Growing mariculture in Alaska By Isaac Stone Simonelli
P
ermit requests for aquatic farms in Alaska are the highest they’ve been for seventeen years, another uptick in the growing interest in the mariculture industry. While oysters continue to dominate, most of the growth is coming through the development of seaweed farms. “The mariculture industry will provide long-term jobs and opportunities for Alaskans, an independent food source for Alaska, and exports for our economy,” says Governor Mike Dunleavy. “Mariculture development will bolster the economies in coastal communities where much of the seafood infrastructure and experience already exist.” There were twenty new joint agency aquatic farm applications submitted during the 2022 application period, which closed at the end of April. Of these, sixteen were for seaweed farms, two for shellfish farms, and two were for combination farms. The farms total 7,645 acres of potential new mariculture development. Each farm, if approved, is another step toward the state’s goal of growing mariculture into a $100 million industry by 2038. Oysters and seaweed are expected to account for more than 60 percent of that annual revenue, with sea cucumbers, king crab, geoduck clams, and mussels making up the difference. Though wild kelp and shellfish harvests have been part of Alaska tradition for thousands of years, aquatic farming in the state is younger than Pokémon Go. The first commercial kelp harvest occurred in Kodiak in 2017. “Because it is at this kind of beginning stage, a lot of folks are coming together and wanting to work together,” says Melissa Good, a mariculture specialist with the Alaska Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program at UAF. “Rather than having silos of effort, we're starting to see coordinated research efforts, coordinated training efforts. This way we can move the state forward together,” she says.
Pushing Through Permitting Farming fish has been illegal in Alaska since 1990–ranching, where fish are released from hatcheries, is allowed—yet the state government is actively engaged in promoting mariculture of any other aquatic resources. Dunleavy, the Alaska Development Team, and the Alaska Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development have been working together with the mariculture industry for three and half years to reduce the amount of time it takes for farmers to receive a permit, a spokesperson for the governor’s office says. The Alaska Mariculture Task Force’s final report to the governor in 2021 notes that despite state budget cuts, the Department of Natural Resources reduced the average aquatic farm lease processing time by more than half, from 572 days in 2018 to 274 days in 2021. An aquatic farm permit requires prospects to submit a joint application to the Alaska Department of Natural Resources, which provides the tideland lease, and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, which reviews the gear a farmer will use, the species they want to work with, and other aspects of the business development plan. “The state is very attuned to working with the industry. Alaska Fish and Game has been responsive to understanding the limitations of their existing processes, 80 | J u l y 2 0 2 2
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