Project Overview
Commodities
- Animals: shellfish
Practices
- Animal Production: aquaculture, oyster rearing
Summary:
The American Eastern Oyster's (Crassostrea virginica) wild population numbers are sharply declining due to water quality and disease. This spells disaster for the American Oyster farmer and consumer as Crassostrea virginica is the most consumed oyster in the United States. The American Oyster's presence along American coastal waters is the basis of essential reef systems and water filtration. The goal is to test the feasibility of rearing American Eastern Oysters in a Recirculating Biofloc Aquaculture System. This system should reduce/eliminate losses or reduced quality of oyster stock affected by environmental factors, predators, natural disasters, and disease. As a result, oysters reared in this system should provide a higher quality end product and, as a corollary, allow the farmer to demand a higher price point.
Project objectives:
- Evaluate the American Eastern Oyster (Crassostrea virginica) respiration, feeding, and metabolism rates in a closed-loop Recirculating Biofloc Aquaculture System.
- Evaluate and compare the Growth rates of American Eastern Oysters (Crassostrea virginica) reared in a Recirculating Biofloc Aquaculture System to the documented growth rates of wild American Eastern Oysters (Crassostrea virginica) to form a viable harvest projection.
- Identified Algal mix best suited for Oyster growth by life stage (I have been corresponding with Julie Trommatter, a Faculty research assistant at the UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE/Horn Point Laboratory/ Oyster Hatchery, who helped me formulate the correct mixture based on the local top quality oyster farm they've researched)
- Evaluate Algal nitrate consumption in a Recirculating Biofloc Aquaculture System.
- Evaluate Consumer response to Oyster quality
- Evaluate Commercial response to Oyster quality
- Evaluate new and existing local farmers' interests in adopting this system