Public/Private Oyster Restoration in Virginia Virginia Institute of Marine Science/ Virginia Marine Resource Commission Michael S. Congrove, Standish K. Allen Jr., Jim Wesson Background Concept Implementation Results Discussion Conclusion 1.Coan River 2.Drumming Ground 3.Temple Bay 4.Palace Bar 5.Ware River 6.Pungoteague Creek The plight of the Eastern Oyster (Crassostrea virginica): - dramatic population decrease over the last five decades in Chesapeake Bay - over-fishing and two prolific disease causing parasites - Haplosporidium nelsoni MSX - Perkinsus marinus Dermo - reduction of hard substrate available for recruitment of the larval form Restoration in Virginia: - mid 1990s, 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional shell reef structures with year-old single oysters, year zero broodstock - Shortcomings of this method include: - lack of natural recruitment due to the reduced populations of diseased wilds stocks - heavy predation of planted broodstock from cow nose rays - reef deterioration due to wave and current action and sedimentation Remote setting of oyster larvae has been effective since the late 80’s on the west coast and more recently, in Maryland in an effort to restore local oyster populations through a state and federal program. Remote setting involves the production of eyed oyster larvae in culture, then facilitating it to set on whole oyster shell in large tanks at a “remote” location away from the hatchery, often near where the spat will be planted. A departure from the Maryland model used here is the use of private industry to provide the infrastructure and man power to produce the spat-on-shell. Private oyster hatcheries produce eyed larvae which are bought by private remote setting operations that are then reimbursed by the Commonwealth per bushel of spat-on-shell planted on state-designated reefs. NOAA provides funding to the Commonwealth for this program. Implementers of this new model of restoration in Virginia: - Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) - Virginia Marine Resource Commission (VMRC) - NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office (NCBO) Design: - VIMS’ produced disease resistant broodstock is delivered to private oyster hatcheries - the hatchery produces eyed larvae - eyed larvae is purchased directly by the industry setting station - the six industry setting stations are responsible for: - acquiring shell cultch - containerizing the shell - setting the shell - planting the seed on a state designated sanctuary reef - the state pays the setting station according to the amount of seed planted on the reef. Each of 18 sets completed this summer was overseen by VIMS and monitoring continues at all sites conducted by VIMS or VMRC. Small control sets performed in the lab were also done for each remote set to help isolate the source of any setting problems. Setting StationsEvent Sequence Advantages of remote setting: - reduced predation resulting from the protection offered by whole shell - ability to plant spat at a smaller size effectively removing the nursery phase involved in planting single oysters, - the ability to plant far greater numbers of spat on these reefs to provide adequate broodstock, and - the reef-building quality of spat-on-shell. It is the goal of this project to use these advantages to produce sustainable oyster reefs in the most economical way possible. Important results: - 25 million spat were planted on six sanctuary reefs - preliminary deployment mortality is approximately 57% - preliminary control results show that none of the low efficiency sets were due to poor eyed larvae quality Perhaps most importantly, the project has shown that in-place oyster industry is prepared and willing to participate financially and physically in local oyster restoration using remote setting. A major limitation was a lack of local hatchery capacity to produce eyed larvae to the scale necessary for the project. Hatchery capacity will need to be increased if the scale of this project is to increase. ControlFieldSpat/shellOystersSpat/shell One WeekOysters Reef SiteSetDate Set Efficiency Deployment DeployedOne WeekMortality 1 week Temple17/6/ %24.09%36.133,613, %949,000 Bay28/11/ %4.19% , %545,000 38/21/ %31.723,171, %897,965 7,412,875 2,391,965 Coan River 17/25/ %0.90% , %86,298 28/16/ %0.98% , %64, , ,298 Drumming18/5/ %9.06%8.711,358, %803,197 Ground28/19/ %16.60%23.942,489, %761,280 38/31/ %11.441,189, %171,600 49/9/ %15.991,662,960 6,700,896 Palace18/15/ %11.42%6.81,713, %405,720 Bar29/28/ %0.9126,900 1,840,500 Ware18/2/ %4.57% , %350,800 River28/16/ %10.17%15.261,525, %938,931 38/25/ %10.35%15.531,552, %841,729 49/19/ %11.291,129,470 4,865,608 Pungoteague18/11/ %8.13%9.991,218, %248,880 Creek28/20/ %10.63%13.071,594, %486, /4/ %9.521,161,440 3,974,760 mean/ total 20.24%9.30% ,077, % ~10,682,847 Local industry has proven to be a willing and able participant in this remote setting oyster restoration model. Time will tell if this method is sustainable from a restoration point of view. Education and training of industry in this mode of oyster production opens the possibility of its use for private seed production to be grown out for market. Hatchery capacity in Virginia must be increased to continue with this mode of restoration. Successful implantation of this public/private restoration program could lead to commercial spat-on-shell aquaculture Partners Hatcheries Middle Peninsula Aquaculture, Matthews VA Horn Point Laboratories, Cambridge MD Setting Stations Cowart Seafood, Lottsburg VA Kellum Seafood, Weems VA Shores and Ruark Seafood, Urbanna VA Seafarms, Hudgins VA Mobjack Bay Seafood, Mobjack VA Shore Seafood, Saxis VA Funding NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office Table 1: setting results by site Figure 1: Setting efficiency by site in chronological order Figure 2: Planting mortality by site in chronological order (Preliminary) Temple Bay Coan River Drumming Ground Palace Bar Ware River Pungoteague Creek Setting Results by Site JulyAugustOct.September