Villages plant seeds of oyster industry.

• Author: Hill, Robin Mackey
• Position: Industry Overview

In the last year, villagers of Tatitlek have begun to develop a taste for oysters. And good thing, because if all goes as planned, residents of this tiny Prince William Sound community may soon be able to begin harvesting and selling up to 700,000 of the succulent shellfish. "This has taken off like we never dreamed," says Gary Kompkoff, village chief and president of the Tatitlek Village IRA Council, the village's traditional Native organization. "Yes, the village is very supportive of the project."

"They're really doing very, very well," says David Daisy, a consultant to the village. Observing Tatitlek's success, the village of Chenega Bay also plans to enter the mariculture business this spring. The village has applied for state permits that would allow residents to plant 1 million baby oysters, or spat, in three different sites. Each location is within eyesight of the village.

About 30 villagers have been trained in the business of oystering and seed has been ordered. The results of a small, sample test indicated that oysters planted near Chenega Bay not only survived, but grew. Daisy says villagers in Eyak, near Cordova, also are eyeing the oyster business.

"I'm so excited to see that the villages are trying to get some type of economic development," says Jayne Sontag, executive director of the non-profit Prince William Sound Economic Development Council. "They need something besides the fish," she says. Villagers traditionally have been dependent on salmon markets.

Like residents of several remote Alaska villages, residents of Tatitlek and Chenega Bay have long searched for a source of income -- and more importantly, of meaningful employment -- that would complement their subsistence-based lifestyle, explains Kompkoff. Village residents are eager for jobs, but not at the risk of altering a lifestyle that has sustained them for generations. A feasibility study done three years ago by the Chugach Regional Resource Commission, a non-profit arm of the Native regional corporation, identified a possible solution: oyster farming.

"They're ideally suited for it," says Daisy, author of the report. "There are very few opportunities for those people in their villages." Daisy explains that both Tatitlek and Chenega Bay are located on rich fishing grounds ("God's country," says Kompkoff), with villagers providing a ready labor pool. More importantly, oyster farming doesn't require constant attention and so allows residents to pursue other...