NOAA Fisheries and the U.S. Department of
Agriculture have opened a new center dedicated to improving oyster breeding in
Milford, Connecticut, U.S.A.
“At a time when 75 to
85 percent of our seafood is imported, shellfish aquaculture provides our
coastal communities with healthy local seafood and jobs,” NOAA Office of
Aquaculture Director Danielle Blacklock said. “The Northeast Oyster Breeding Center is a significant investment to
ensure the resiliency of American aquaculture.”
Located inside a
renovated hatchery at NOAA Fisheries’ Milford Laboratory, the Northeast Oyster
Breeding Center will use advanced breeding methods to develop new strains of
eastern oysters that are more resistant to disease and changing environmental
conditions.
“There’s a need for oysters that are resilient or
tolerant to disease but also retain optimal performance across the Northeast’s
oyster production environments,” Agricultural Research Service National Program
Leader for Aquaculture Caird Rexroad III said. “More comprehensive information on oyster
physiology and genes associated with important traits is needed to facilitate
genetic improvement.”
The Milford Laboratory has been renovated to
increase capacity and keep lines of oysters separate amid scientists’ efforts
to conduct selective breeding. The Northeast Oyster Breeding Center also houses the first high-density
flow-through larval culture system in North America and has two
photobioreactors it can use to grow food for the oysters.
“The NOAA Fisheries
Milford Lab is expanding on our 90-plus year heritage as innovators at the
forefront of cultivating shellfish – from developing
the Milford Method to breeding and growing shellfish in the 1950s to growing
oysters in the first flow-through ultra-high-density larval system in the country,”
Milford Laboratory Director Gary Wikfors said. “Our close collaboration with USDA Agricultural Research Service allows
the breeding center to benefit from the unique expertise of both agencies.”
Scientists spawned the
first generation of oysters in the renovated facility in April.