Alaska has special opportunities for developing a thriving aquaculture industry, but also special challenges that stand in the way of such ambitions, according to a new strategic science plan issued by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The plan is intended to guide aquaculture-related research conducted over the next five years by NOAA’s Alaska Fisheries Science Center.
The report focuses on “the development of shellfish and algae aquaculture, also known as mariculture.” It adds, “This plan specifically includes shellfish (Pacific oysters, pinto abalone, king crab), other invertebrates (sea cucumber), and algae (kelp and red algae).”
It considers ways that science can help achieve the ambitions championed by a state panel seeking to expand the industry. The Governor’s Mariculture Task Force, established in 2016, set a goal of developing a $100 million-per-year Alaska aquaculture industry within 20 years.
Doing so will require more research, public education and support for partnerships among government agencies, Indigenous communities, academia, industry and others, said NOAA’s strategic plan. It identifies specific goals to accomplish those objectives.
There has been progress since NOAA issued the plan. A statewide coalition of fisheries and economic development organizations, led by the Southeast Conference, last month won a $49 million federal grant to help build up Alaska’s mariculture industry.
The Alaska Mariculture Cluster, as the group calls itself, plans to set up a revolving loan fund for shellfish and seaweed production. The federal funding also will go toward job training programs, research and development, marketing, planning and technical support for green energy in the mariculture industry, and equipment and technology to help solve the challenges of building up hatchery and nursery capacity to create shellfish and seaweed seed.
For now, however, the Alaska aquaculture industry is small — just 82 permitted farms, with 24 additional permits pending as of January 2022, the NOAA report said. The annual value of the industry at the start of 2022 was $1.5 million.
There is potential for rapid growth, even though finfish farming is illegal and even though Alaska is the only coastal state where aquaculture is unlikely to expand into federal waters in the near future, the report said. “The cold and nutrient rich waterways of Alaska are ideally suited for the development of shellfish and algae aquaculture,” the NOAA plan said.
But special challenges include Alaska’s accelerated climate change and ocean acidification.
Climate-change problems include marine heat waves, more harmful algal blooms and extreme rainfall events, it said. Acidification, which lowers available calcium, poses known threats to shellfish populations and shellfish farms.
At the same time, climate change and acidification have created incentives for expanded aquaculture in Alaska, the strategic plan said. There is “strong interest” from local communities and industry to use kelp farming to create local areas that are more protected against acidification, for example.
Aquaculture is also seen by the U.S. Department of Energy as a possible tool for carbon capture, a strategy that would mitigate climate change, the plan said. An idea being considered is use of cultivated microalgae to absorb carbon dioxide, the plan said.
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