It took time for Zach Geisterfer to develop his spat eye.
Geisterfer, a senior majoring in cell biology at the University of Hawaii at Hilo, is a student in the university’s aquaculture workforce training program, part of the Pacific Aquaculture and Coastal Resources Center.
He started work a year and a half ago, cleaning out tanks of oyster larvae and minuscule juvenile oysters, called spat.
“After awhile you just start to take more on,” he said. You start to learn which spat are growing normally and can be moved to a new tank. You learn which are runts and need more time to grow — and more algae to eat — and screen them out.
On a recent Wednesday, Geisterfer had just helped ship spat to an oyster hatchery in Washington state.
The student workers ship to Alaska and California. They’ve sent their Hawaii-reared spat as far away as Vietnam.
They send some down the road, to Hawaiian Shellfish LLC in Hawaiian Paradise Park. Owner Dave Nisbet also owns Goose Island Oysters in Washington.
West Coast hatcheries such as Nisbet’s began reaching out to PACRC in 2008, after ocean waters in their area were acidifying at a rate that caused oyster larvae to die before they could settle and become spat.
As a result, the aquaculture program began producing Hawaii spat to sell to other hatcheries. Once the juveniles had built their shells, they were less susceptible to die-off.
During the past eight years, Hawaiian Shellfish alone has put more than $1 million into the workforce program, said PACRC director Maria Haws. She and other staff hope to create more public-private partnerships for the students and the center.
“The production supports 80 percent of their (the student’s) salary,” Haws said. The remaining portion comes from grants.
The aquaculture program typically has 25 students per year, who stay on for two to three years learning the ropes of oyster rearing and fish farming. Some are science majors, such as Geisterfer, but others study in fields such as psychology.
The program aims to cultivate interest in aquaculture and entrepreneurialship.
“I think that’s really important in Hawaii, getting more young people in small businesses,” Haws said. She pointed to the example of program alum Stephan Classen, who now works for PACRC as an education specialist. Classen also opened his own hobby shop in downtown Hilo.
Having a direct hand in the oysters’ success “gives you a sense of responsibility and pride,” Geisterfer said. “You wouldn’t be too unhappy if you were to move forward in the field of aquaculture.”
Email Ivy Ashe at iashe@hawaiitribune-herald.com.