HEAVEN ON THE HALF-SHELL

HUMP ISLAND OYSTER COMPANY DISHES UP THE WEST COAST’S COOLEST OYSTERS.

Alaska has long been known for its sustainable seafood, with an abundance of wild-caught salmon and varied white fish, like halibut, cod and pollock, as well as the infamous Dungeness, king and snow crabs. And, now, thanks to legislation passed in the late 1980s allowing for oyster harvesting, these saltwater delicacies are the new Alaskan seafood darling. Ketchikan’s Hump Island Oyster Company is leading the briny revolution.

A LITTLE BACKGROUND

With nearly 34,000 miles of coastline, the waters of Alaska are the perfect temperature for oysters to mature. This puts Alaska in the unique position of being able to produce year-round oysters, unlike many other oyster-rich regions of the United States. However, the water is too cold for those mature oysters to reproduce as they would elsewhere in the wild. Which is why a crop of hearty, forward-thinking fishermen saw the opportunity to cultivate the concept of oyster farming, getting in on the seafloor of what is predicted to be a $30 million industry by 2037.

THE BIRTH OF HUMP ISLAND

OYSTER COMPANY

A civil engineer by day and an oyster farmer at heart, Trevor Sande decided to continue a maritime tradition started by his great-grandfather upon his arrival in Ketchikan in the early 1920s. Sande’s grandfather and father both captained for the Alaska Marine Highway system. His underlying motivation, however, was the health and wealth of his home state. According to Sande, “Part of my interest is trying to create a more diversified economy for our region and part of it is the farming aspect, where you are creating a sustainable food source.”

So in 2012, he secured the deed on a 10acre lease site not far from the family home at Hump Island near Ketchikan. Then, a year later, he bought and set 150,000 oyster seed — and Hump Island Oyster Company was born. Today,

Hump Island has nearly doubled in size every year and is the largest oyster farm in Alaska, setting more than 3.1 million oysters annually and housing upwards of seven million oysters at any given time in some state of the maturation process.

KETCHIKAN HARVEST

The shoreline is breathtaking, the land is mostly uninhabited and, twice daily, the nutrient-rich waters of Clarence Strait and Behm Canal ebb and flow with the tide between Hump Island and Sande’s floating oyster farm. Purchased as seed from Hawaiian shellfish, the oysters are typically about three millimeters in size when they arrive. They then spend six to seven months in Hump Island’s nursery, floating freely in controlled tanks out of harm’s way until they are 18 to 25 millimeters in size and able to fend for themselves.

While the oysters are in the nursery, they’re typically cleaned weekly to make sure as much water flows through the bins as possible, since the filtering of water is the way oysters grow. Every two weeks, the seed is sorted for size using mesh screens and put back into bins with similar sizes.

Once the seed reaches about 18 millimeters, the oysters are transferred to Hump Island’s oyster farm, which is comprised of raised trays that are suspended from cedar floats in the water. The oysters will then feed by filtering the massive amounts of high-quality plankton that naturally occurs in rivers and seas. During the growing season, they are continually sorted by size and tumbled to help develop a deep cup which helps to cultivate plump, rich meat, harden the shell and create an eye-pleasing exterior appearance. Although a small percentage of the oysters will be ready for market in 12 months, the majority will spend up to 24 months on the farm before they are ready to be harvested.

TO MARKET

The plump, briny oysters can be found in restaurants and grocery stores throughout Alaska, as well as in Seattle and Portland. They’re also showing up at many regional events throughout the Pacific Northwest, including SHUCK Portland and the SLURP oyster festival in Olympia. To top it off, Hump Island Oyster Company will also ship anywhere that Alaska Airlines flies.

Chefs and consumers alike praise Hump Island’s oysters as ultra-clean, velvety, and featuring a crisp, briny finish.

Robin Leventhal, former Top Chef Seattle contestant and current instructor at the Wine Country Culinary Institute in Walla Walla, describes Hump Island Oyster Company’s offerings as “luscious on the tongue, crisp flesh, with a bright saline finish which transports you immediately to the pristine Alaska waters where they were raised.”

Hump Island Oyster Company has also started offering three-hour tours of their oyster farm, starting at the cruise dock on the Ketchikan waterfront, taking a short drive to their second facility at Clover Pass, then a boat ride out to the farm on Hump Island. Once there, guests get a lesson on mariculture and watch the oyster harvesting process in action. There’s an Alaska touch tank to learn more about Alaska sea life and a tasting room where guests get to sample the oysters and some of the kelp products.

WITH A LITTLE KELP FROM MY FRIENDS

Yes, in addition to farming oysters, Hump Island Oyster Company has started raising three varieties of kelp. An annual seaweed known for its “superfood” nutrients, kelp is being harvested as an ingredient in salads, stir-fries and other foods, as well as being used in toothpastes, shampoos and pharmaceutical products. Kelp can grow from spore to maturity in a year — sometimes as much as 12 inches in a day during March and April.

Hump Island has been selling their quick-growing, high-quality seaweed to Juneau-based Barnacle Foods to be made into salsas, pickles, relish, hot sauce, jams and dried seasonings which can be found throughout Southeast Alaska, the Pacific Northwest, California, Maine, New York and online.

IN ADDITION TO FARMING OYSTERS, HUMP ISLAND OYSTER COMPANY HAS STARTED FARMING THREE VARIETIES OF KELP