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) intended to 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 would have been 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 was anticipated to produce up to approximately 65 million, 10-day-old spat each year. Spat would have been 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, would have all been potentially candidates for spat deployment. After spat deployment, reefs available for harvest would have been monitored to determine when significant quantities of harvestable oysters (> 3 inch) are present, at which time the reefs would have opened to harvest. Beyond the four-year project life, long-term funding could have been derived from sack fees collected by AMRD from commercial oyster harvesters using public reefs.
Contact
Amy Hunter(251) 621-1216
Amy.Hunter@dcnr.alabama.gov
Project Website
None
For official trustee information regarding the Deepwater Horizon NRDA, including information regarding the NRDA process and the status of projects, see https://www.gulfspillrestoration.noaa.gov/