For More Information

THE OYSTER DISEASE RESEARCH PROGRAM (ODRP)

A Congressionally-mandated program to support research, outreach and management efforts to better serve restoration of healthy populations of oysters in the nation's coastal waters, ODRP began in 1990 with oversight by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Marine Fisheries Service and its Chesapeake Bay Office; it is now administered by the National Sea Grant College Program.

Through competitive proposals, ODRP supports research to develop the following: (1) optimal strategies for managing around disease; (2) better understanding of the processes of parasitic infection; (3) improved understanding of the oyster's immune system; (4) hatchery techniques for producing disease-resistant strains; (5) molecular tools to better monitor the onset and presence of disease.

For more information about research findings and current projects, contact:

National Sea Grant College Program
1335 East-West Highway
Silver Spring, Maryland  20910

or visit the ODRP website: http://www.nsgo.seagrant.org/research/oysterdisease/

SEA GRANT, COASTAL ECOSYSTEMS
AND OYSTER RESTORATION

The National Sea Grant College Program represents a unique partnership among the nation's academic research communities, coastal industries, state government and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Thirty Sea Grant programs – one in every coastal and Great Lakes state – form the core of a nationwide network of over 200 participating institutions that draw on the expertise of more than 3,000 scientists, researchers, educators, students and outreach specialists.

While individual Sea Grant programs support research and education efforts on a host of issues, the National Sea Grant College Program's Oyster Disease Research Program and the new Gulf Oyster Industry Research Program are specially targeted at reversing the decline of oysters due to disease and other environmental pathogens.

Sea Grant's objective is to marshal the nation's highest quality researchers for developing a suite of practical approaches to mitigate the impacts of disease. In working with industry and government, the aim is to restore the commercial and ecological viability of oysters in U.S. waters, specifically Crassostrea virginica on the east coast and Gulf coast and Crassostrea gigas on the west coast.

Restoring Oysters to U.S. Coastal Waters provides snapshots of recent scientific achievements of the Oyster Disease Research Program.

For information about Sea Grant and details on the Oyster Disease Research Program and the Gulf Oyster Industry Research Program, contact:

National Sea Grant College Program
1335 East-West Highway
Silver Spring, Maryland  20910

or visit the ODRP website: http://www.nsgo.seagrant.org/research/oysterdisease/

CREDITS

• Writer: Merrill Leffler
  
• Contributing Writers: Jack Greer, Gail Mackiernan and Kathy Folk
  
• Design: Sandy Rodgers
  
• Web Page Construction: Ilse Grove and Dan Jacobs
  
• Art:
  Introduction: Tongers - Mike Reber; Drawing of oyster bar - Alice Jane Lippson; Disease maps - Maryland Sea Grant; Shuckers - Harold Anderson
  Breeding Disease Resistance in the Hatchery: Spawning oyster - Michael Reber; Researchers - Haskin Shellfish Research Laboratory; Male oyster - Tim Keating
  Prospects for Disease-Free Seed: Creating an oyster reef - Skip Brown
  Modeling Around Disease: Moving oysters - Gary Smith; Oyster cells - Don Meritt; Tonger - Skip Brown; Oyster - Skip Brown
  Oyster Foes East & West: Oyster - Steven Coon
  Combatting Disease in the Cell: Petri dishes - Skip Brown; Purifying virulence factors - University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute, Center of Marine Biotechnology; Studying oyster defenses - Bill Jenkins, Virginia Institute of Marine Science; Extracting fluids - Skip Brown
  Getting around Juvenile Oyster Disease: All - Austin Farley
  New Tools for Diagnosing Disease: All - Washington Sea Grant College
  
  
• Restoring Oysters to U.S. Coastal Waters
  Prepared by Maryland and Virginia Sea Grant College Programs for the National Sea Grant College Program. For copies, please contact:
  Virginia Sea Grant, 804-924-5965
  http://www.virginia.edu/virginia-sea-grant/ or
  Maryland Sea Grant, 301-405-6376
  http://www.msdg.umd.edu/.
  
  
• Publication Numbers:
  UM-SG-TS-98-03 (Maryland Sea Grant)
  VSG-98-05 (Virginia Sea Grant)