Oysters do not naturally reproduce in our cold waters in South East Alaska, so we enlist the help of other growers. Our oysters start out as larvae collected in Hawaii.
As the larva attach to something they begin to grow a shell, at this stage they are called Spat. Our spat is flown from Hawaii to Prince of Wales Island in Alaska where they are cared for at a nursery until they are about 5/8″ diameter.
The 5/8 “seed” once received is separated into 2 liter groups and placed into our growing equipment.
The farm previously used “lantern nets” to raise the oysters. 2020 will be the switch over to a newer style of equipment, the “float bag.”
The float bag will keep the oysters in the most nutrient rich environment, and will allow us to turn the bags weekly with much less effort to get a meaty deep cupped oyster.
Approximately 2 months after planting, the oysters are ready for a “Tumble”. The Tumbler sorts the oysters by size, cleans them, and breaks the extra growth of shell.
The Oysters go back into the Float Bags. This first tumble revealed 80% had grown to over 1″ in 2 months. Bigger oysters means more bags so they are not crowded. The oysters went back into 5 times the number of bags.