A charter cabin cruiser's engine quiets down on the approach to Canoe Lagoon Oyster Farm about an hour and a half from Wrangell. The tide isn’t high enough to pass through the inlet right next to the farm though, so farm owner Brian Herman pulls over to wait.
"I'm not going to sneak in there, because of all these freaking logs," Herman said. "We have oysters staged on that beach."
Herman said there's a huge demand for his product. But the shellfish isn’t native to the state and that makes it difficult to grow oysters that are hearty enough to reach dinner plates in state and Outside.
Herman bought the business in 2020 and has been refining his techniques through a lot of trial and error.
He buys the Pacific oysters as seeds to grow on his farm. He has a few different brands, including small Beach Bums and medium-sized Rose Islands. He said it’s not hard to find buyers.
"Every Alaskan oyster is in high demand. There's not enough oysters in the market," he said. "Cold water oysters are considered a premium oyster. And Alaskan oysters are so unique because there's so few of them here."
According to the McKinley Research Group report, Alaska’s oyster harvest was forecast to triple between 2023 and the end of 2025.
Canoe Lagoon is one of 16 active oyster farms that are part of the Alaska Shellfish Growers Association. The association, which represents oyster farms from all over coastal Alaska, from Ketchikan to Kodiak, has doubled the number of active farms it represents over the last decade. President Weatherly Bates said she thinks there’s room for a lot more.
"There's not enough oysters produced even in the state to fulfill the state's demand for oysters during the summer and cruise ship time," she said. "Oysters are brought in from other places."
She said that the oyster industry in Alaska consists mostly of small family farms, which makes it difficult to keep up with the demand, especially during tourist season at Alaska restaurants.
"I feel like the sky's the limit since there's a huge demand because oysters are growing in popularity," Bates said. "And with fisheries worldwide declining, there's more and more of a need to have aquaculture species available."
She said Alaska’s oysters are in high demand in part because of the cold and pristine waters, since that can help lower risks of illness caused by oysters.
Newer growing methods
To take advantage of the demand, Herman has to get better at growing oysters. And he is improving. He’s found they grow better when they’re closer to the water’s surface with fewer oysters in float bags, the mesh bags oysters grow in that rest close to the surface.
"You're trying to force something to grow that doesn't really want to be here, but we're proving that you can do it, and you can do it fast," Herman said.
When the tide rises high enough to get to the farm, Herman’s full-time employee, Matt Lemma, gives a tour. He’s excited to see last year’s oysters growing so fast.
"All those brand new black bags there, this entire set, and that entire set, every single one, is the June ‘24 plant that I've been babying," he said. "It's crazy. It's crazy."
"They look better than the 2022’s," Herman replied.
"No two oysters are the same."
Many of the oysters will be harvested in a couple months, after a year of growing.
Herman said he’s expanded the business a lot over the last five years and that’s eaten into profits. He thinks the business will do much better this year though.
He said Canoe Lagoon’s oysters have more of a vegetable flavor to them, like a fresh cucumber.
"That’s what's so cool about oysters is, yes, everybody on the West Coast is growing Pacific oysters, right? But no two oysters are the same," Herman said. "So even the ones on Prince of Wales will taste completely different than ours, and they're 20 miles away."
If all goes well, he expects to ship oysters both in state and out of state. As of right now, he ships in state and to one restaurant in Arizona. He said some restaurants in New York have contacted him, but he needs to produce more and he thinks this year might be the year.
