A state and federally designated economic development organization for Southeast Alaska has received $1 million in two grants to build up mariculture in the region, with half the money to go toward applying for an even larger grant and the other half going to design a processing facility on Prince of Wales Island.

A $500,000 grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration will be used "to build an application to allow us to compete for $50 million," Robert Venables, executive director of Southeast Conference, said last Friday.

The half-million will go toward "everything from facili...