Shawn is the farm manager at the Hump Island Oyster Company. The oyster farm was founded by Shawn's dad, Trevor Sande, in 2010 to create a sustainable business on the water and to help diversify Ketchikan's commercial fishing industry.

As farm manager, Shawn oversees the cultivation of oysters from tiny spat to full maturity, when they're ready for market. His days are usually spent tending to the floating oyster beds that dot the water off Hump Island. "About 80% of my job is just tumbling oysters," Shawn says. "The other 20% is repair and maintenance. Everything deteriorates a lot faster in salt water. It's a constant battle."

A typical morning as farm manager starts at 7:00 am with Shawn reviewing the plan for the day over a cup of coffee at the dock with his crew of five to six workers. "We go over the crop rotation, what rafts need to be brought in for tumbling oysters, and what needs to be fixed from the day before," Shawn says. "Monday and Tuesday are usually dedicated to harvesting and packaging oysters for sale to local restaurants and customers. We then tumble Wednesday through Sunday. Each stack contains 10 trays and weighs anywhere from 300-400 lbs. There are 13-15 rafts, and each raft has 80 stacks. One raft is about a two day process to tumble, restack, and put back in the water. The goal is to run through the entire crop of over 1 million oysters three times a summer."