Oyster Hatchery at Claude Peteet Mariculture Center—High Spat Production With Study
Implementing Organization
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; State of Alabama
Overview
DWH Project Funding
$156,159
Known Leveraged Funding
$0
Funding Organization
Natural Resource Damage Assessment Trustees (NRDA)
Funding Program
Natural Resource Damage Assessment NRDA
Details
Project Category
Environmental
Project Actions
Species Restoration
Targeted Resources
Oysters/Reefs
Project Description
Alabama Marine Resources Division (AMRD) will construct an oyster hatchery within a newly constructed greenhouse building at its Claude Peteet Mariculture Center and operate the facility over a four-year period. The oyster spat produced by the project will be used to encourage oyster recruitment in portions of Mobile Bay that have experienced reduced oyster production compared to the early 20th century. Under the High Spat Production with Study option, the oyster hatchery is anticipated to produce up to approximately 65 million, 10-day-old spat each year. Spat will be deployed based on identification of favorable locations, potentially in coordination with the Oyster Cultch Relief and Reef Configuration project, and Side-scan Mapping of Mobile Bay Relic Oyster Reef project, and oyster ‘grow-out’ project. Areas conditionally approved for oyster harvest, as well as conditionally restricted or restricted waters, will all potentially be candidates for spat deployment. After spat deployment, reefs available for harvest will be monitored to determine when significant quantities of harvestable oysters (> 3 inch) are present, at which time the reefs will be opened to harvest. Beyond the four-year project life, long-term funding may be derived from sack fees collected by AMRD from commercial oyster harvesters using public reefs. The small fee, however, may not be sufficient to operate the hatchery as described in this project. Therefore, a scaled down version of the hatchery, in terms of operating costs and production, is anticipated long-term. Additionally, a long term comprehensive oyster restoration plan will be developed for the Mobile e...click on "More Info" link below
Contact
Amy Hunter(251) 621-1216
Amy.Hunter@dcnr.alabama.gov
Project Website
None
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