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(Photo Courtesy Rebecca Gilpin)
Gilpin and Rutgers Aquaculture Innovation Labs Support Thriving Shellfish in Local Waters
(Photo Courtesy Rebecca Gilpin)
(Photo Courtesy Rebecca Gilpin)
Why New Jersey oysters are experiencing a renaissance
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Rutgers University faculty have helped launch the current wave of oyster farms in New Jersey.
© Tyger Williams/The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS
Introducing High School Students to the Aquaculture Industry
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New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium and Rutgers University have partnered up with numerous shellfish farms throughout the Jersey Shore for the Apprenticeship In Shellfish Aquaculture Program (ASAP).
Surf Clams Off the Coast of Virginia Reappear – and Rebound
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The Atlantic surf clam, an economically valuable species that is the main ingredient in clam chowder and fried clam strips, has returned to Virginia waters in a big way, reversing a die-off that started more than two decades ago.
Credit: D. Munroe
Laura Steeves featured in NOAA Science Blog
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Postdoctoral researcher Laura Steeves collaborates with NOAA Fisheries to understand how a species important to New Jersey will respond to changing ocean conditions.
Credit: Laura Steeves/Rutgers University
NJ’s lucrative clam fishing industry is threatened by climate change – and the wind farms meant to fight it
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With the surfclam industry facing an uncertain future amid all these threats, shellfish researchers at Rutgers and elsewhere are working to find solutions that may help both the clams and the fishers adapt.
Lewes oyster hatchery has successful growing season
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Using Rutgers University brood stock, the hatchery was able to have eight spawns this year, and is on its way to success in benefitting local aquaculturists in the state of Delaware.
On the Edge
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Shellfishermen and scientists have spent years battling a disease that nearly wiped out the native oyster population. At last, there are signs of a possible way forward.
Photo by RANDI BAIRD
The Baby Oyster Bottleneck
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One East Coast collaboration, the Regional Shellfish Seed Biosecurity Program , is attempting to make interstate business easier for hatcheries and growers. “In a nutshell, we want to have a hatchery’s health record for three years, and see a clean bill of health for three years, before the hatchery becomes certified,” explains Lucia Safi, a postdoctoral researcher associated with Rutgers University and the Regional Shellfish Seed Biosecurity Program. “The hatchery will make an application for each product that they want to have certified. We do all this research and certified best management practices to minimize disease. In the long run, this will save a lot of time and money.”
Oyster shell scarcity puts the aquaculture industry between a rock and a hard place
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In some parts of the East Coast, specially constructed blocks of concrete that mimic the surface area of an oyster reef are used for oyster settlement along the shoreline. This concrete must be designed to break down, however. Asking concrete manufacturers to make a product designed to break down may seem counterintuitive, explains Dave Bushek, director of the Haskin Shellfish Research Laboratory at Rutgers University.
