8/19/11
Humboldt Bay's oyster industry is hoping to expand on its success as a state leader in oyster farming -- by encouraging new oyster growers.
The Headwaters Fund recently awarded a $200,000 grant to the Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation and Conservation District for a mariculture expansion project. The project is designed to help the oyster farming industry grow within the bay by helping it conduct pre-permitting studies.
Harbor District CEO David Hull said the goal is to find a project that will result in measured expansion, avoiding negative impacts while creating local jobs and expanding a productive industry. He said the proposal was put together after a series of community meetings identified it as a need.
”The entire mariculture industry in Humboldt Bay supports this as well as the shellfish growing associations up and down the coast,” Hull said. “It's a great collaborative effort between a public agency and the shellfish industry -- it's just a great win-win kind of a thing.”
Essentially, the district would go through the permitting process for mariculture plots and then lease the “pre-permitted” property to farmers, allowing farmers to side-step a lengthy and expensive permitting process.
Coast Seafoods Co., the largest provider of oysters on the North Coast, started its permitting process in 1996 and lasted through 2005. Coast Seafoods Co. General Manager Greg Dale said he spent more than $1 million on studies and fees.
He's hoping pre-permitted plots will encourage a type of oyster business park in the district. While this could be a double-edged sword -- more plots could mean more business to buy Coast Seafoods' seeds or more competition -- Dale said he sees it as a way of economic growth. He said his company may also lease new plots and expand its business.
”We've already spent the time and the money, and the effort over the years to make good water quality,” Dale said. “If we can open up some ground, we can grow that can grow oysters. It's as simple as -- if you open up the ground, you can produce jobs.”
According to industry representatives, the oyster industry has between 56 to 65 full-time jobs with a payroll exceeding $1.4 million. Farmers currently lease 325 acres on the bay, out of the approximately 18,000 farmable acres. Industry surveys estimate that 1.2 jobs can be created for every six acres put into production.
Dawn Elsbree, Headwaters coordinator, said the project is “a perfect example” of the kind of project Headwaters wants to support. The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the grant on July 26.
”A group of oyster farmers came together to discuss what they could do to remove a costly regulatory barrier to expanding their industry,” she said in a press release. “They found a public sector partner in the Harbor District and came to the Headwaters Fund with a well thought out and feasible plan that has a direct link to job creation.”
The district will set pre-approved guidelines such as the density of the cultures, the number of oysters per acre, the number of long lines per acre, technique options and limitations, Hull said.
First District Supervisor Jimmy Smith, a former harbor district commissioner, said he believes there is room to expand the industry but cautioned that it has to be done in a way that doesn't negatively impact other bay-dependent industries, recreational opportunities or wildlife.
”We just need to make sure that it's all balanced and all those uses and species get consideration, but I'm happy to see they're doing a detailed analysis of sites,” he said.
Ronald Fritzsche, a former harbor district commissioner who headed the mariculture monitoring committee set up during Coast Seafoods Co.'s permitting process, agreed and added that he hopes the studies also look at other types of mariculture, such as other shellfish or green algae.
Fritzsche said oyster farming has come a long way, and the farmers have been good stewards of the bay. He supports the proposal.
”It took a number of years working with the oyster industry to help them and get the culture methods where they are now,” he said. “It's a healthy industry, and I would support oyster farmers.”
Dale said shellfish farmers are grateful to the communities that strive for good water quality, allowing for prized oysters.
”The more people care about oysters, the more they care about water quality,” he said.
