Aquaculture

Exploring biophysical linkages between coastal forestry management practices and aquatic bivalve contaminant exposure

Limits to biomass productivity during fed-batch cultivation of Laminaria saccharina female gametophyte cells in a stirred-tank photobioreactor

This webinar features George Waldbusser, a biogeochemist at Oregon State University who studies how carbon dioxide is changing the chemistry of the ocean and affecting shellfish, including oysters and pink shrimp.

This career webinar is for students in grades 6-12 who want to explore careers in marine science. It features Jen Krajcik, manager of the Oregon Hatchery Research Center in Alsea.

To determine the efficacy of different methods of oyster habitat restoration methods in enhancing juvenile life-history traits, this study compared the settlement, growth and mortality of wild juvenile Olympia oysters among three shell treatments: (1) bagged shells and (2) loose shells, which are commonly used methods of oyster habitat restoration, and (3) rafted-line shells, which is a method used by the Oregon Oyster Farm of Yaquina Bay to commercially grow their Pacific oysters.

Researchers quantified microplastic types, concentrations, anatomical burdens, geographic distribution and temporal differences in Pacific oysters and Pacific razor clams from 15 Oregon coast sites. Microplastics were present in organisms from all sites. Over 99% of microplastics were fibers. The material type was determined using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. Spring samples contained more microplastics than summer samples in oysters but not razor clams.

Microplastics are pollutants of increasing concern. They are pervasive in the environment and can harbor or adsorb pollutants from surrounding waters. Aquatic organisms, including commercial species, encounter and ingest microplastics, but there is a scarcity of data about those caught and cultured in North America. Additional research is needed to determine the prevalence, physiological effects, and population-level implications of microplastics in commercial species from Canada, the United States and Mexico.

A massive reduction in historic populations of Olympia oysters (Ostrea lurida), the only native oyster found on the west coast of North America, has contributed to a loss of ecosystem and cultural services once provided by this species. Resource management agencies and environmental organizations are working to protect and enhance the remaining populations, but in many locations, information to characterize the current geospatial distribution of Olympia oysters is lacking.

Ocean acidification (OA) has had significant negative effects on oyster populations on the west coast of North America over the past decade. Many studies have focused on the physiological challenges experienced by young oyster larvae in high pCO2/low pH seawater with reduced aragonite saturation state (Ωarag), which is characteristic of OA. Relatively few, by contrast, have evaluated these impacts upon fitness traits across multiple larval stages and between discrete oyster populations.

Working waterfront industries are reliant upon water access and encompass everything from wild harvest and cultured seafood to towboats, shipping, and marine research. Many of the industries along Oregon’s working waterfronts are inaccessible to the public or hard to see, even though they play critical social and economic roles in the local community. Working waterfront industries thrive when there is local understanding of, and support for, the work and the people doing this work.