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Abstracts
Workgroup: Aquaculture and Hatchery Issues
Brood Stock Management of Disease Resistant Stocks in the Hatchery
Principal Investigator(s):
Standish K. Allen, Jr., Haskin Shellfish Research Lab, Rutgers and Virginia Institute of Marine Science, College of William and Mary, ska@vims.edu
Co-Investigator(s):
Don Meritt, Horn Point Lab, University of Maryland
Mark Luckenbach, Virginia Institute of Marine Science, College of William and Mary
Mark Luckenbach, Virginia Institute of Marine Science, College of William and Mary
Funding Period: 1997 - 1999
A total of five workshops were presented in 1999 in the following states: Massachusetts, Connecticut/New York, New Jersey, Virginia, and North Carolina. Workshop presenters and the topics they covered are listed below.
Standish Allen, Jr. - formerly of Rutgers University, now with the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS), Director, Aquaculture Genetics and Breeding Technology Center (ABC) - "Genetics in brood stock development" and "CROSBreed Project Report."
Greg DeBrosse - Cape Shore facilities manager, Rutgers University, Haskin Shellfish Research Laboratory - "Practical methods of shellfish breeding." DeBrosse's segment of the workshop was a hands-on demonstration of methods used in our breeding programs.
Tom Gallivan - formerly of VIMS, ABC, now Manager of seaside clam operations and alternative species development, Cherrystone Clams, Cheriton, VA - "Clam Breeding Project."
Don Meritt - University of Maryland, Horn Point Environmental Laboratory - "Developing useful monitoring programs for your shellfish business."
Don Webster - University of Maryland, Wye Research and Education Center - "Program overview" and "Feedback for the future."
Overall we reached 64 participants: 17 hatchery operators, 35 growers, and 12 others. Response to the workshops was enthusiastic, as judged by the "End of Program Evaluations" graded by participants (see Appendix 2 - Evaluation form and summary of responses." In addition, a questionnaire was distributed concerning important character traits for a shellfish breeding and selection program that is also part of Appendix 2. This latter information was more or less for us, the "breeders" to achieve some feedback from the industry about their concerns.
One of the major objectives to these workshops was to simply educate aquaculturists to the concept that domesticated stocks of oysters (and clams) are and will be increasingly available. In other words, an oyster is not an oyster, and paying attention to its origin and how it is performing relative to other stocks (this material presented in Meritt's section) is a crucial and fundamental farming protocol. Since the workshops, CROSBreed brood stock have been distributed to hatcheries in Maryland, Virginia, and New Jersey. There are no commercial hatcheries in North Carolina. Massachusetts and New York have some restriction on the import of adults from the mid-Atlantic area (including New Jersey). More telling than perhaps the issuance of brood stock has been the demand for CROSBreed seed from the VIMS and Horn Point hatcheries. These requests represent growers who have become aware of disease resistant stocks and are interested in trial plantings of seed.
Another major objective was to educate participants about the rigors of a selection program. This began with an introduction to the principles of selective breeding by Allen. It was later reinforced by a second presentation by Allen with details of how the CROSBreed lines were derived and our current selection program on them. A more hands on explanation of these rigors and what it means from a practical point in the hatchery was covered by DeBrosse who detailed the steps and procedures we take in typical breeding programs. After this demonstration, participants were pretty much willing to allow that this process best belongs in the hands of professionals at, say, Rutgers and VIMS. IN other words, it is impractical to accomplish a meaningful selection program at a commercial hatchery.
As a final point, then, Webster presented a section called "Putting the stocks to use." Webster described the dilemma facing institutions mounting selective breeding programs: How are costs of a continuing selective breeding program borne? We then introduced the notion of licensing of the stocks to the groups. It is important to note that licensing is a standard feature of agriculture and relatively new for aquaculture, primarily because there have been no stocks with enough added value to warrant commercialization. This has changed with the advent of CROSBreed and some other strains under development. Our objective in telling participants of the licensing strategy was not to get them to "sign up" but to try to understand the principal and justification for it. Webster circulated a handout that is attached as Appendix 3 - Putting the stocks in use or Paying for improved shellfish lines.
IMPACTS and/or BENEFITS:
This project is one of the most visible manifestations of ODRP research to the industry. In fact we are taking the products of research for ODRP and experience of our breeding program to the field. Our overall agenda is to begin to create a network of producers who are knowledgeable about genetics and breeding of shellfish and cognizant of the value of improved strains.
XB lines are becoming increasingly useful to growers, practically speaking. More and more seed have been disbursed. The most have been distributed to oyster gardeners in Virginia. Some growers in Virginia are also testing CROSBreeds. The experiences of the growers themselves, as they use the strains will not only serve to help corroborate our own data but also to help evaluate overall commercial performance and provide experiential data for later improvements.
The major development stemming at least in part from this collaborative activity among Rutgers, VIMS and University of Maryland has been the establishment of the Mid-Atlantic Shellfish Genetics and Breeding Technology Consortium. The Consortium is a memorandum of understanding among these institutions as to sharing research, intellectual property, and practical programs such as the CROSBreed project. Note that these three institutions are the official test sites of the ODRP funded CROSBreed project. We have agreed to set up a licensing system for CROSBreed (and other strains under development) brood stock. The licensing fees will be administered by Rutgers' Office of Corporate Liaison and Technology Transfer. Licensing fees have initially been set at a conservative 7% of sales (although the value of the stocks is certainly much greater than that). So far there is only one commercial hatchery producing CROSBreed seed under these licensing conditions. However, this is just the beginning of what might become widespread use of these stocks. We are confident that the participants of these workshops understand the importance of value added, domesticated brood stocks and the rationale behind their licensing.
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