MIPS Project Detail:

Shore Thing Shellfish, LLC

Extension of In-Situ Oyster Setting Method

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Company

Shore Thing Shellfish, LLC

Tall Timbers

Saint Mary’s

County

, Maryland

Founded:

2011

Website:

http://www.shorethingshellfish.com/

Company Description:

Shore Thing Shellfish is a small, member-owned and operated oyster farm in St. Mary’s County dedicated to producing quality shellfish and providing oyster-based services.

Oyster larvae are free-swimming for most of their lives; however, once they reach maturity they “strike” onto hard substrates like hard oyster shells. Farmers growing oysters in the form of spat (baby oysters) on shell typically bag up oyster shells, load the shell bags into a setting tank, and once the larvae strike, unload the shell bags and transport them to the area where the oysters will grow to maturity. Not only is this remote setting method labor and time-intensive, but it also causes spat mortality due to transport.

Shore Thing Shellfish plans to commercialize an oyster ‘in-situ’ setting process, as opposed to traditional land-based remote setting. This method will provide an on-site, cost effective, and environmentally friendly alternative to remote setting methods for holders of lease bottoms.

MIPS Project

Extension of In-Situ Oyster Setting Method

Project #

5307

|

MIPS Round

53 |

Starting Date:

Feb 2014

MIPS Project Challenge:
The goal of these MIPS projects was to test an alternate method of setting oysters using the company’s ‘in-situ’ enclosure rather than land-based tanks.

Project Scope:
Through these MIPS projects, Shore Thing Shellfish and researchers built and placed a temporary enclosure directly into the water, where free-swimming oyster larvae were given time to strike onto shells. The enclosure was then removed, alleviating the need for shell bags, loading and unloading tanks, and transporting fragile young oysters before their shells are fully developed.

Oysters are a keystone species in the Chesapeake Bay because they filter water and create three-dimensional oyster reefs. An adult oyster can filter 50 gallons of water per day. Oysters eat a variety of algal types by filtering them out of the water column. Nutrients enter Bay waters through land run-off and combine with sunlight to grow algae. Excess nutrients often cause algal blooms, making the water appear cloudy and of poor quality. Historically, oysters were able to keep the water filtered; however, with excessive nutrient run-off and less than one percent of the oyster population still in existence, the Bay is suffering from extremely poor water quality/clarity conditions in many regions. Furthermore, with fewer oysters repopulating, oyster reefs are nearly non-existent. Those oyster reefs create incredible habitat for hundreds, if not thousands, of aquatic species and improve other bay fisheries, such as crabs and rockfish.

(Source: Shore Thing Shellfish)

Results:

Researchers found that the in-situ method was at least as good in setting spat on shell as the traditional method, and was done with much less labor than the traditional method.

This research resulted in one academic paper:

Paul, R.W., K. M. Boyle, M. Burch, B.T. Russell, and S. Russell. Bar Tending--A New Approach to Oyster (Crassostrea virginica) Spat Setting was presented at the 16th International Shellfish Restoration Conference, Dec. 10-14, 2014, in Charleston, SC.