Offering tips and techniques for safely turning subsistence fish waste into compost for gardeners and growers, Saturday at 3:00 p.m. at the Dillingham Landfill.
KDLG: Fish waste from some of last year’s subsistence catch is slowly composting out at the Dillingham Landfill, and may be ready to distribute this fall. Marine Advisory Program agent Gabe Dunham has been overseeing the effort.
"So this project initially began last year. It’s funded through a grant through the Coastal Community Impact Assistance Program," he said Wednesday. "The goals of the project are really twofold: the first is try to contribute to a nuisance free solution for subsistence fish wastes that can be implemented successfully in rural Alaska; the second goal of the project is to use these fish wastes in a way that is beneficial for local gardeners and growers."
This weekend Dunham will be holding a "Best Practices Workshop and Compost Demonstration" at the landfill. It’s open to everybody who’s interested in composting or might have some good techniques to share.
"If you’ve got some best practices, if you’re a composter yourself or a gardener or a grower, please share your information with everybody else," Dunham said. "This is really meant to be an open forum. We’ll start there at 3 o’clock. I’m going to do a demonstration and show everyone how I assemble a compost pile with fish guts. I’ll show some of the steps I’ve gone through to minimize any unwanted smells or pest attraction. Then we’ll go into the remaining part of the workshop session."
Last year’s waste should be ready for free use soon. There will be a separate fish dumpster at the landfill for those who’d like to put waste into be composted. Dunham stresses that only fish guts, no bags, should be put in there; bags and trash will have to be picked out by hand before the fish waste can be added to the compost pile.
Reach the KDLG news department at news@kdlg.org or by calling 907-842-5281.