Can Extensive and Intensive Oyster Farming Keep the Industry Alive in Virginia, USA?  11th International Conference on Shellfish Restoration November 19-22, 2008 Charleston, South Carolina, USA T. Leggett. (1), B. Goldsborough (2), J. Harmon (1) Chesapeake Bay Foundation (1) PO Box 412, Wicomico, VA, 23184, USA, (2) Chesapeake Bay Foundation, 6 Herndon Ave., Annapolis, MD, 21403,

Harvesting the Chesapeake Over harvesting in the late 1800s, the parasites MSX and DERMO, poor water quality, and loss of habitat have reduced the Chesapeake Bay oyster population and fishery to a fraction of historical levels

Entire towns and cities were built around the oyster fishery in Chesapeake Bay, USA. The oyster fishery was the mainstay for the seafood industry up through the mid 1900s. Eastern oyster (Crassostrea virignica) landings numbered in the millions of bushels as recently as 1950. In 1915, there were 21 shucking/ packing oyster houses in the Hampton Roads area (Churchill, 1921). By the 1950's, three large oyster houses dominated. The J. H. Miles and Co., Inc, had 425 shuckers and the Ballard Fish and Oyster Company had 275 shuckers, both in Norfolk; and the J. S. Darling Company had 75 shuckers in Hampton (Fig. 94) (MacKenzie, In Press).

The harvest beyond 2000 has shown ups and downs, but at an all time low level, working mainly off of single year classes that resulted from good recruitment during one year.

CBF Promotes Oyster Aquaculture The Chesapeake Bay Foundation has supported and actively promoted oyster farming since 2000 as a means to keep watermen working on the water and to relieve pressure on the wild oyster resource. Only several operations were created as a result of our efforts and they were largely people not associated with traditional Chesapeake Bay fisheries. Fisheries remained relatively stable and somewhat profitable for several years into our efforts and watermen were not enticed into looking for other alternatives.

Oyster Farming Gains Momentum Non native EIS Interest in both intensive and extensive oyster farming in the Virginia portion of Chesapeake Bay has increased in the last decade as a result of improved strains of the native oyster, the possibility of the introduction of a non native oyster and the decline of other Bay fisheries, namely the blue crab fishery. Blue crab decline

Non Native Oyster EIS Triggers Interest in Aquaculture As many as 13 have participated in the non native oyster field trials and that many more are growing native oysters alone. Hatchery capacity has now hamstrung the fledgling industry and most seed in VA is now coming from out of state as several large growers and processors are investigating the possibility of constructing their own hatchery.

CBF Working on Solutions for Virginia Oyster Industry 260 bu sterile native spat on shell planted; 937 bu harvested in 1.5 years 2 month old spat on shell In 2005, CBF, VIMS and Bevans Oyster Co collaboratively started a project to determine the feasibility of producing triploid (sterile) spat on shell native oysters for commercial production. Larvae were set at the MD Oyster Restoration Center and 260 bushels of spat on shell were trucked to the Yeocomico River and planted on leased grounds belonging to Bevans Oyster Co. 937 bushels of marketable oysters were harvested by watermen working for Bevans Oyster Company and shucked just 1.5 years after planting! 5 inch, 2 year old sterile native oysters First Day of Harvest

Virginia Restoration Fund Supports Triploid Spat On Shell Project The VA Restoration Fund supported a project to test the feasibility of producing spat on shell for planting and commercial harvest on a private lease owned by Cowart Seafood Corp. in the York River; an area with higher disease pressure and more cow nose rays. Approximately 200 bushels of spat on shell with approximately 1 million seed oysters were planted in August 2007. Harvest was expected to occur in December 2008. Setting larvae for Cowart Seafood Corporation, July 2007 Planting triploid spat on shell in York River, August 2007

Enter the Cow Nose Ray In April 2008, the planted spat on shell were growing well. By July 2008, they had been completely consumed by rays. Lessons learned: spat on shell was not planted dense enough and the leased ground was not prepared well enough, ie, broken bottom that did not have a good base of shell.

Can Watermen Make a Living Planting and Harvesting Triploid Spat on Shell? Waterman William Hicks and family set up and operate a spat on shell production facility with funding from the Campbell Foundation. Funding from the Keith Campbell Foundation for the Environment to Oyster Reef Keepers of VA, in collaboration with CBF, allowed a Gloucester waterman to set up a setting operation to determine the feasibility of producing triploid native spat on shell for commercial harvest by individual watermen. In summer 2007 a local Gloucester waterman was able to set nearly 1 million spat on shell. They are currently ready for harvest with 200 oysters making up a bushel. The bottom was not prepared enough. It was shifting sand and needed a more dense layer of shell. Many of the clusters of oysters sunk or were slightly covered by sand but the rapid growth of the oysters kept pace with sand deposition. A second set was conducted in summer 2008 yielding 2 million spat on shell. A third set in summer 2008 failed due to the condition of the shells placed in the setting tank. The shells were not washed well enough and the introduced larvae died.

A Second Waterman Trained to Produce Spat on Shell Lynnhaven waterman Pete Nixon was set up to produce spat on shell. He was able to produce and plant over 2 million triploid native spat on shell on a private lease in the Lynnhaven River. The lease is one that has been worked in the past and has an excellent bed of shell. As of early November, the oysters are nearly 1 inch from a starting size of about 3/16ths of an inch on August 26 2008

Funding to Train a Tangier Island Waterman To Grow Oysters CBF received funding from the Keith Campbell Foundation for the Environment to train a Tangier waterman to grow triploid native oysters in cages. James Eskridge, Mayor and waterman received cages and 50,000 seed to start a small oyster farm in July 2008. James is a soft shell crab producer, catching peelers using peeler traps and scrapes and he also catches eels in the fall. His oysters in November are averaging 1.5-2.5 inches.

VMRC Waterman Retraining Program for Oyster Aquaculture We are working with the VA Marine Resources Commission on their waterman retraining program. Since we already have one waterman from Tangier in our project, we are working with the Tangier waterman in the VMRC project. CBF received triploid native oyster seed for the VMRC project in July and ran them through our floating upweller system. Rudy received his seed on August 21 and it was placed in 3/16ths inch mesh grow out bags. Rudy has made improvements to his crab scraping boat to accommodate a spud system, a boom with electric winch for lifting cages and a a retractable culling table. On November 15, 2008 his oysters range in size from 1-2.5”. He should be able to begin marketing some of the oysters by late spring/early June 2009

Rapid Growth of Triploid Virginica ’07 and ’08 York River Singles from Cage culture ’07 Ware River Spat on Shell, Summer ‘08

Industry Mechanizing Cowart Seafood has installed an automated cage cleaning system as well as a large scale floating upweller system similar to those on the west coast, and a large mechanized seed sorter. Smaller growers are also automating their operations to compliment their scale of effort.

ECONOMICS Half shell market: .15-.45 each depending on marketing strategy Spat on shell: $25-$35/bu Will this Work? I’m optimistic

Water quality, Shellfish and Aquaculture Enhancement Zones What is the Potential for Expansion and What are the Probable Issues? Water quality, Shellfish and Aquaculture Enhancement Zones Cow Nose Rays The future is promising but several hurdles exist such as use conflicts for intensive aquaculture, degraded water quality as population growth increase in the watershed, and predation by cow nose rays on planted spat on shell. VA is working on establishing aquaculture enhancment zones for the clam industry on the Eastern Shore of as population growth continues. Our watermen and other industry folks are attempting to protect spat on shell with netting and Gloucester County is addressing use conflicts associated with intensive cage oyster culture. Localities will be faced with more conflict issues as population growth increases.

Acknowledgements Keith Campbell Foundation for the Environment VA Restoration Fund Virginia Institute of Marine Science Cowart Seafood and Bevans Oyster Co. Virginia Marine Resources Commission

Questions?