Researchers describe their unsuccessful attempt to assess winter mortality and growth rate of geoduck clam seed in Southeast Alaska.

This research examined the importance of different attributes of Alaska oyster product in the marketplace. Seafood businesses handling oyster products were surveyed to determine the relative importance of attributes such as oyster size, seasonality, and vendor integrity. The research also analyzed whether any of the survey findings had important implications for the future development of cooperatives by oyster producers.

Tables and graphs for an Alaska oyster farming feasibility study.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game issued a Fish Resource and Transport Permit to Sea Culture of Alaska for a mariculture research project in Chernofski Harbor, on the northwest corner of Unalaska Island, to explore the potential of the area for oyster culture. Growth trials were conducted at the Tanadgusix dock located directly across from Mutton Cove, near Observatory Point. Four hundred twenty-six oyster spat that averaged 24.1 millimeters in length were placed in wire mesh trays suspended from the dock on July 12, 2003. On October 3, 2003, 329 live oyster spat averaged just 25.2 millimeters in length. One millimeter of growth over 12 weeks is extraordinarily slow for Pacific oysters.

Researchers conclude that Quarry Bar and Grassy Island in the Cordova, Alaska, region are not suitable razor clam habitats. 

In 2002 HB 208 required the Alaska Department of Natural Resources to identify, and offer for lease at auction, 90 sites suitable for aquatic farming, including 10 sites for geoduck and other subtidal culture species. In August 2003 the Alaska Department of Fish and Game conducted dive surveys at 11 locations to assess their suitability as geoduck farm sites. This document provides survey details.

For prospective growers of blue mussels in New England marine waters, this handbook is useful for assessing the market and for planning aquaculture business development. Methods for evaluating environmental and market risks are discussed, and further resources are provided.

The purpose of the project was to evaluate the potential for enhancing native littleneck clam populations. It was hands-on study, allowing village residents to develop the skills and understanding necessary to continue shellfish enhancement activities.

To test the prospect of using larger oyster seed, researchers built and operated a floating upwelling system.  This document is the Final Report of the Kachemak Bay Shellfish Nursery Culture Project.

This is the only book on the market that describes the dangers faced by shellfish farmers and salmon hatchery workers at the aquaculture worksite, and tells how to reduce the chance of injury. Marine safety experts wrote the manual in response to numerous requests from the industry. Chapters include physical and chemical hazards, proper lifting techniques, airplane and boat safety, basic first aid, electrical hazards, fire fighting, cold water survival, and coping with bears.

This manual has guidelines, strategies, and warnings about starting a shellfish farming business in Alaska and other cold water regions. It describes what kinds of people make the best shellfish farmers, why some farms fail, how to get accurate information on shellfish farming, how to start a business, financing, choosing a culture site, and techniques. RaLonde, formerly on the fisheries faculty at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, worked closely with Alaska shellfish farmers for more than 30 years.

Written by experts at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and the University of Washington, and medical doctors, this publication is an excellent summary of the PSP problem in Alaska. PSP poisoning is caused by neurologically damaging saxitoxins that are byproducts of microscopic algae called dinoflagellates. People who eat shellfish that have been feeding on toxic dinoflagellates can suffer from numbness, paralysis, disorientation, and death. Testing programs in Alaska ensure that shellfish reaching the retail food market are safe, but the widespread indifference of recreational and subsistence harvesters to PSP warnings results in about seven individual cases of poisoning per year in Alaska. Alaska Marine Resources 8(2).

Learn about growing shellfish and how to get aquatic farm permits. This issue also has articles on an oyster farmer's road to success and an innovative school aquaculture program in Petersburg, Alaska. It includes a survey that will help you decide whether aquatic farming is right for you. Alaska's Marine Resources 7(4).

This video tells the history of Alaska's salmon hatcheries and describes present-day procedures and operations. In Prince William Sound and other Alaska fishing areas, the release of healthy young salmon into the ocean has resulted in high returns of adult salmon. Hatcheries have helped stabilize the up-and-down cycles of wild salmon runs. 

Southeastern Alaskans are quickly gaining interest in the multimillion dollar industry of herring roe-on-kelp. Because there is potential that roe-on-kelp fishermen will buy cultured Macrocystis, researchers tested two sites for kelp culture. Kelp growth factors such as light, temperature, salinity, nutrients, motion, and physical environment at the growth site are addressed.

A very active and open-information shellfish research organization that provides research and educational services to the West Coast. 

ASGA is a private nonprofit organization representing shellfish farmers and those interested in developing shellfish aquaculture in Alaska. ASGA was formed in the early 1980s when Alaska residents experimenting with suspended oyster culture ran into a confusing wall of government permits. The organization grew a strong voice for Alaska shellfish farmers with government agencies and politicians. Successful lobbying and grants for education have been key to building support for shellfish farming in Alaska.

Workshop presentations by shellfish culture experts.

Workshop presentations by shellfish culture experts.

Oyster cleaning with a tumbler demonstrated.

The Pacific geoduck clam is one of the largest burrowing clams in the world. Geoducks can bury themselves so that their siphons stretch 1 meter to the substrate surface. A troubling problem is that high levels of paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) have been found in geoducks in Southeast Alaska, most strongly associated with the viscera. The mantle and necks are the usual body parts consumed and PSP concentrations are lower in these parts. Though this situation permits the sale of processed clams with viscera removed, exvessel value for processed clams is significantly less than that for whole, live product.

HACCP stands for Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point. It is a common sense method for identifying and controlling food-safety hazards. Using the HACCP system, you identify the hazards in your operation, establish controls, monitor them and keep records. SSOP stands for Sanitation Standard Operating Procedures.

The blue mussel, Mytilus edulis, is a well-known bivalve shellfish in Maine and elsewhere; it occurs naturally between Labrador and North Carolina on the US East Coast, but also occurs in northern latitudes in the Pacific and Arctic Oceans. Most commonly, blue mussels are found in the intertidal and shallow subtidal zone, though they have been found well below 100 feet in depth.