We were then given a guided tour of the Horn Point Laboratory and oyster hatchery by Stephanie Alexander, the overall manager of the facility. It was a day of two Stephanies – in the morning we met Stephanie Westby, the manager of NOAA’s Chesapeake Bay Programme who gave us an overview of the restoration work across the whole of the bay system. We spent the first night in Cambridge, Maryland, near to our destination next day, the Horn Point Laboratory, part of the University of Maryland’s Center for Environmental Science which contains the world’s largest oyster hatchery for Crassostrea virginica, the native oyster on the east coast of the United States. All were there thanks to Boze Hancock of The Nature Conservancy’s Global Oceans programme, ecosystem restoration ‘guru’ and expert oyster tour organiser. The rest of the team consisted of Karel van den Wijngaard of ARK Nature from the Netherlands and two staff members from The Nature Conservancy (TNC): Anita Nedosyko, an oyster restoration manager from South Australia and Mike McCann, an urban ecologist based in New York City who is working with the Billion Oyster Project there. Also from the UK were our Solent project partners Dr Joanna Preston and Luke Helmer from the University of Portsmouth, with Dr Alison Debney of the Zoological Society of London representing the Essex Native Oyster Restoration Initiative, on which BLUE is also represented. A small team of budding oyster restoration practitioners from Europe, the United States and Australia arrived in Washington DC in early June to start an intensive week-long oyster study tour of both Chesapeake Bay on the east coast and Puget Sound on the west.įrom the Blue Marine Foundation were Tim Glover and Simon Harding who have been leading the Solent Oyster Restoration Project since 2015.
#OYSTER SPAT COLLECTOR DOWNLOAD#
Download the latest report to farmers for aquaculture industry statistics and production data.Oyster restoration in the United States is decades ahead of Europe and much better funded, with significant funds coming from the government including the military, a BLUE fact-finding trip to the east and west coasts has shown.The oyster industry management plan for Moreton Bay Marine Park supports the sustainable development of the commercial oyster industry in Moreton Bay.You will need to discuss technical and licensing aspects of any proposed aquaculture venture with staff from Fisheries Queensland and the Department of Environment and Science proceeding with site selection, design and, where applicable, land purchase.Spatfall occurs throughout the year, but peaks in Moreton Bay between November and March. Known spat-catching areas in southern Queensland are the Great Sandy Strait, Pumicestone Passage and the leeward sides of Moreton, North Stradbroke and South Stradbroke Islands. The batches are placed in the mid to lower part of the tidal range, where the spat settle on the sticks. In this method, 6–8 sticks are nailed to cross-beams to form frames that are then grouped to form batches. Stick placement is one of a variety of proven methods used for collecting spat. The artificial substrate must be attractive to the larvae to encourage them to settle and attach. The influences of tide, wind and currents must be considered before placing spat collection devices. developing a suitable substrate for the spat to settle on.deciding on an area in which to collect (this must be an area where spat are known to be present in the water).Collecting spatĬrucial considerations for spat collection include: This introduced species competes with rock oysters for food and space. Restrictions are in place to prevent importing the Pacific oyster ( Crassostrea gigas) into Queensland. Selection of spat has become an important issue for Queensland growers, as they need to source supplies of stock that are both economical and contaminant-free. Many growers ask to see a sample of the stock before they buy. Some spat is still collected, but the amount is small compared to the spat sourced from New South Wales.īecause an oyster is considered spat up to the age of 12 months, size can vary considerably. Queensland oyster farmers have, for some time, relied on importing spat from New South Wales for on-growing into Queensland waters. The successive steps of growing and maturing depend on the quantity and quality of the spat.
The first step in oyster aquaculture is finding a good source of spat (oyster larvae).
0 kommentar(er)
