02/12/2020
Dear Seed Customer,
we want to send an update on our hatchery progress so far this year.
We are working on our first spawn of oysters and they look great. We heard a lot of positive feedback from growers regarding the quality of our seed last year. I thought I would share with you a bit about how we mange our oyster broodstock to, perhaps, improve our seed even more. We have several broodstock lines that Karen has set aside over the years. Each line is color coded. The color of the broodstock line is generally noted when we put together our seed orders for each customer. If you are interested in which line you are getting this year, please let us know. We are also interested in hearing feedback from you on the growth and performance of our seed. We would like to get a sense of which lines perform best in the various estuaries they are grown in from Maine to New Jersey.
The broodstock lines Karen has are derived from the following; Flowers oysters from eyed larvae purchased in 2004-2006, Clinton disease resistant oysters from oysters developed by former CT shellfish pathologist, Inke Sunila, Peconic stock (eastern and western), stock grown in Noank, CT and Rhode Island stock. She has crossed some of these lines over the years, however, we do have broodstock that are solely the Clinton line. We are working with a grower in CT to challenge the Clinton oysters so they can continue to have some resistance to MSX, Dermo, and ROD. We hope to spawn some of those oysters late this spring in CT. Karen is planning on getting an importation permit from the NYSDEC that will allow us to bring the larvae to NY so that they may be cultivated and available here. Larvae do not transmit disease.
Karen will be doing pathology testing on our oysters twice this year at our Southold site and once mid-summer at our South Jamesport site. We anticipate the results to be similar to years past. Please let us know what your state requires regarding testing. Each state is different and we are trying to keep seed costs down by limiting testing while also keeping it valid. Hard clams will be tested as needed.
We are also hoping to spawn bay scallops this year. We have some that Karen spawned in 2018 and will use them as broodstock. We may also spawn survivors of the mortality from this past year. If we are able to do so, we will be working with Bassem Allam to insure that the protocol is sound and we do not inadvertently transfer the disease to the bay scallops at our farm, though they have likely been exposed to the disease organism. We will likely work with Cornell Cooperative Extension on that as well.
Karen has an extension to the existing hatchery that we are working on completing this month. This will enable us to produce more oysters, plus be able to cultivate more hard clam and bay scallop seed. Our hard clams seed is from Peconic clams that Karen has bred over the years. We use non-notata stock as well as notata. The bay scallops are from wild scallops collected in the bay.
We hope this information is helpful. Most of our current customers have placed their orders and sent in their deposits. If you haven't placed your order yet, please do so soon. Karen wants to make sure current customers have first dibs on the seed. Orders are filled according to when deposits are received. And please give Karen a hard time if you don't finally get an Aeros T shirt this year.
Here's to a successful 2020.
