Visit Biofouling Control Strategies: A Field Guide for Maryland Oyster Growers Biofouling Control Strategies: A Field Guide for Maryland Oyster Growers Biofouling, or plants and animals that colonize oysters and/or cages, can affect profitability. This handbook reviews macroalgae, cushion moss, encrusting bryozoan, barnacles, false mussels, hooked mussels, slipper limpet, ghost anemone, sea squirts, boring sponge, red beard sponge, clam worms, mud worms, & whipworms. 2020 Maryland Sea Grant, University of Maryland Extension
Industry Perspective Why Restaurants May or May Not Buy Certain Oysters Direct from the chef's mouth — what he's looking for when buying an oyster for his restaurant. Michael Wiley, business owner/chef 2020
Visit Potential Gear Coatings as a Mitigation Technique for Invertebrate Predators of Aquacultured Eastern Oysters (Crassostrea virginica) Potential Gear Coatings as a Mitigation Technique for Invertebrate Predators of Aquacultured Eastern Oysters (Crassostrea virginica) This project aimed to identify a gear coating that deters and mitigates predation by oyster drills (Urosalpinx cinerea) and starfish (Asterias rubens) on aquaculture eastern oysters. Identifying potential strategies to mitigate starfish and oyster drill snail predation on eastern oysters could increase oyster survival, which would increase yield and revenue. 2020 Northeast Regional Aquaculture Center
Visit Eastern Oyster Production in Maine: A Basic Overview Eastern Oyster Production in Maine: A Basic Overview An overview of oyster production techniques including nursery and husbandry, common gear used, and oyster biology. 2020 Maine Sea Grant
Visit Research, Development and Education Priorities for the Aquaculture Sector in Maine Research, Development and Education Priorities for the Aquaculture Sector in Maine This report is based on the research priorities survey conducted in June 2019 of Maine’s aquaculture community and is compared with surveys from 2012 and 2016 to look at trends. There have been some changes in the prioritization of needs since 2016, but many of the same research, development, and education (R&D&E) needs persist and remain unaddressed. As expected, there are different R&D&E priorities for different aquaculture sectors. 2020 Maine Aquaculture Innovation Center
Visit Guidance to Maine oyster farmers on selling your product in-state Guidance to Maine oyster farmers on selling your product in-state Summarizes some simple ways that holders of a valid Maine Aquaculture License can get their shellfish to market. 2019 Maine Sea Grant
Visit Does a Flip-Bag System Produce a Better Eastern Oyster? Does a Flip-Bag System Produce a Better Eastern Oyster? Reviews tide–flipped bags or baskets ability to produce a more attractive and commercially valuable Eastern oyster for the half–shell market. Found that flip-bag oysters grow slower but had a wider fan, deeper cup, heavier shell, yielded more meat, were less fouled, and required less labor to maintain. 2017 East Coast Shellfish Growers Association, Roger Williams University
Visit Oyster Suitability Index Oyster Suitability Index The Coastal Satellite Oceanography team at University of Maine created a high resolution satellite imagery of the coast of Maine that uses sea surface temperature, turbidity, and chlorophyll concentration to determine oyster suitability. 2017 University of Maine
Visit Site Selection Site Selection Detailed look into why site selection is so important including, biological requirements, physical characteristics, as well as social & regulatory factors. 2016 Aquaculture in Shared Waters
Visit Getting to Know Your Water Getting to Know Your Water Provides a summary of direct and indirect environmental factors that may affect your site selection for your marine aquaculture business. 2016 Aquaculture in Shared Waters
Visit Husbandry Husbandry Good husbandry is critical to success and this gives a general overview of its importance. 2016 Aquaculture in Shared Waters
Visit The Business of Aquaculture The Business of Aquaculture Reviews the keys to running a successful business; the four P's of marketing, wholesale distributors, risks, and sales. 2015 Aquaculture in Shared Waters
Visit Effect of Oyster Stocking Density and Floating Bag Mesh Size on Commercial Oyster Production Effect of Oyster Stocking Density and Floating Bag Mesh Size on Commercial Oyster Production A study designed to measure the effect of stocking density and bag mesh size on the growth of pre-commercial oysters (60 mm) deployed at three sites in northeastern New Brunswick. 2015 New Brunswick Department of Agriculture and Aquaculture
Visit A Comparison of Bottom and Floating Gear for Growing American Oysters (Crassostrea virginica) in Southeastern Massachusetts A Comparison of Bottom and Floating Gear for Growing American Oysters (Crassostrea virginica) in Southeastern Massachusetts A study compared how oysters grew in floating cages versus bottom cages that determined that generally oysters grew faster and survival and condition index were higher in floating gear. 2014 Woods Hole Sea Grant, Cape Cod Cooperative Extension
Visit Northeastern U.S. Aquaculture Management Guide: A manual for the identification and management of aquaculture production hazards Northeastern U.S. Aquaculture Management Guide: A manual for the identification and management of aquaculture production hazards Intended to help prospective farmers to identify, record, monitor, and manage production hazards, and ultimately minimize production-related risk. Discusses types of risk in aquaculture, record keeping, environmental conditions, biofouling organisms, predators, diseases, parasites, invasive species, and operational procedures. 2014 Northeast Regional Aquaculture Center, USDA
Visit Shell GIS Shell GIS ShellGIS is a desktop-based software tool that, for the choice of 14-commonly cultured shellfish species, enables dynamic predictions of shellfish production, environmental effects, and profitability according to culture practice and site selection within a given GIS domain. 2014 ShellGIS
Visit For Consumers of Molluscan Shellfish: Safe Handling, Storage, and Cooking Practices For Consumers of Molluscan Shellfish: Safe Handling, Storage, and Cooking Practices This brochure reviews safe handling, storage, and cooking practices that shellfish consumers should follow to prevent illness. 2013 Connecticut Sea Grant
Visit Intertidal Lentz System Bag Culture of Oysters Intertidal Lentz System Bag Culture of Oysters The intent of the Lentz system is to grow a superior quality oyster while utilizing less labor that will enable significant operation cost reduction and this presentation describes a large trial grow out study of this system. 2010 Alaska Sea Grant
Visit Best Management Practices Template Best Management Practices Template Use this to create your own farm-specific Best Management Practices (BMP) document use this template, a Microsoft Excel file in macro format. 2010 East Coast Shellfish Growers Association
Visit Reference Manual For Oyster Aquaculturists Reference Manual For Oyster Aquaculturists Intended for a novice farmer to give a overview of oyster farming topics such as oyster biology, site selection, rearing methods, spat supply, and production plans. 2008 New Brunswick Department of Agriculture and Aquaculture
Visit Aquaculture Systems for the Northeast Aquaculture Systems for the Northeast Overview of popular finfish and shellfish aquaculture systems (husbandry & gear) used in the northeast including bottom culture, near bottom culture, water column culture, surface culture, hatchery land-based systems. 2008 Northeastern Regional Aquaculture Center
Visit Marine Aquaculture Species for the Northeast Marine Aquaculture Species for the Northeast A brief introduction to current commercial production species, potential commercial species, and experimental species including the hard clam (quahog), eastern oyster, blue mussel, softshell clam, macroalgae, bay scallop, European oyster, surf clam, sea scallop, and more. 2008 Northeastern Regional Aquaculture Center
Visit Overwintering of Eastern Oysters: Guidance for Small-scale Growers Overwintering of Eastern Oysters: Guidance for Small-scale Growers Questions to ask when beginning to consider different overwintering oysters options. 2006 Maine Sea Grant
Visit Shellfish Handling, Tagging, and Labeling Shellfish Handling, Tagging, and Labeling Slideshow summarizing the regulations for shellstock and shucked shellfish handling, sanitation, tagging, and labeling for the state of Maine 2004 Maine DMR Bureau of Public Health