“We decided that we needed our own building,” said Marie Bader, a spokeswoman for the co-op. “Up to now, we've had leased space in other fish processing plants. We never had a sign, an office or a phone, and in summer months (when the plants were busy processing other finfish) we got squeezed out of space.”

Competition for land on the Homer Spit is stiff, but the co-op managed to find a half-acre site with a steel piling platform and two salt-water wells on it, and negotiated a sale with the owner, Bader said.

The co-op plans to rent much of the building for office space. The building will also feature an oyster bar and restaurant, plus retail space. A portion of first-floor facilities will be used for sorting and grading, as well as the final cleaning and counting of the oysters, work done by shared employees. The post-harvest jobs now take 70 percent of the growers' time, with each grower doing it on an individual basis, she said.

“With a processing plant in place, we can plant more oysters and have a larger crop,” she said. “At this point, all the farms in Kachemak Bay are at 10 percent of their capacity. The footprint won't change, but many of them are only harvesting one or two lines because it is so labor intensive.”

According to studies by the federal Economic Development Administration, growth of the oyster farms could potentially add 83 new jobs to the area, she said.

Since the shellfish growers began their commercial enterprises about a dozen years ago, they've sold every oyster them could harvest, Bader said.

“Homer eats more oysters than Anchorage,” she said. “During the summer, we don't send a single oyster to Anchorage.”

Oysters have been farmed in Alaska since the early 1900s, with Alaska oyster farms being mom and pop businesses. The oyster farms use suspended culture techniques, where oysters are grown in nets or perforated trays hung in deep waters.

Alaska oysters can feed continually and avoid exposure to hot summer suns, cold winter winds, mud and sand. After about three years of this coddled life in the nets or trays, the Alaska oysters are uniformly shaped with deep cups and plump meats, perfect for serving on the half shell, according to co-op members.

The co-op also boasts that Alaska oysters are among the safest oysters in the marketplace, because of the pristine waters where they are grown.

In 1989, the state passed legislation permitting the farming of approved shellfish species in coastal waters. By 1993, some 10 oyster farms were established in Kachemak Bay. The farmers soon realized that farming also involved educating the community, working for clean water practices and with regulatory agencies.

In 1994, the farmers formed the Kachemak Shellfish Mariculture Association to address those issues. Among the mariculture association's goals are networking with related marine science programs to further enhance the health and productivity of Kachemak Bay.

Statewide revenues from some 50 shellfish farms in Alaska are less than $600,000, but given the vast coastlines of Alaska, the potential for increased revenues from shellfish farming is excellent, Bader said.