Recipient Organization
TRIPLE N OYSTER FARM LLC
1265 STEPHENS AVENUE
BATON ROUGE,LA 708083766
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
Inland oyster seed production and R&D in recirculating aquaculture systems is being developed in Baton Rouge, LA at the LSU Innovation Park. The Gulf Coast oyster industry faces numerous challenges including increased exposure to anthropogenic pollution, climate change, ocean acidification, harmful algal blooms, predation, disease outbreaks, and low salinity events. This has prompted Triple N Oysters to culture oysters in a closed system away from the coast of Louisiana. This move has several potential benefits including the production of oyster seed in a controlled environment where temperature, salinity, feed, and nutrients can be optimized for a reliable production of seed for the oyster industry. These inland operations will also be resilient in the face of tropical storms and hurricanes.
Animal Health Component
40%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
30%
Applied
40%
Developmental
30%
Goals / Objectives
The major goal is to develop innovative protocols at an inland hatchery to produce oyster larvae and seed for the oyster industry and coastal restoration efforts in a significantly more reliable fashion than is currently taking place in coastal regions of the USA.The Phase I specific goals will be attained from results of experiments designed to yield data during the 8 month duration of the award:Determine broodstock maintenance and conditioning protocols.Determine larvae rearing conditions.Determine seed setting and grow-out conditions.Task 1: experimental determination of broodstock maintenance (months 1-6) For this task we will attempt to condition 900 oysters in a controlled environment. The oysters will be split into 10 separate coolers that have been plumbed to control the water flow through rates. Therefore, 90 oysters will be maintained in each cooler at a specified temperature, water chemistry, and feeding regime. Water temperatures will be set to duplicate the onset of winter in Southern Louisiana. A cold winter scenario will hold the water temperature at a constant 7 C. A warm winter will use a water temp of 12 C. An intermediate temperature for winter of 17 C for an average winter. Table 1 shows the different temperatures that will be used for each treatment.Table 1. Temperature for each of the coolers.Cooler #Temperature17 C27 C37 C412 C512 C612 C717 C817 C917 CA modified protocol of Buchanan et al. (1998) will be utilized to condition the oysters. After a period of approximately 3 months the temperature will be gradually increased over a period of 2 weeks to simulate the end of winter and the beginning of spring. A spring temperature of 25 C will be maintained for an additional 6 weeks. The oysters will be monitored for Perkinus marinus (dermo) infection (Dr Jerome La Pyre, LSU) when mortality occurs, and quality of gonads at the end of the 6 weeks of conditioning. If the oysters appear ripe after the 6 weeks they will be induced to spawn using thermal fluctuations to release their gametes. Weekly water parameters will be analyzed for alkalinity, calcium, dissolved oxygen, nitrate, nitrite, pH, salinity, temperature, and total ammonia. Dissolved oxygen and pH will be recorded daily at the hatchery. Additional water analyses will be performed by Wetland Biogeochemistry Analytical Services (WBAS) at Louisiana State University.From these experiments we predict that one of the conditioning temperatures will yield more oysters that have mature gonads. These initial results will be expanded upon in the Phase 2 effort to more precisely define the conditioning temperature regimes and begin to look at feed effects on oyster conditioning. Feed quality and quantity likely play a major role in conditioning (Ingle, 1951; Buchanan et al., 1989; Kuhns et al, 2013).Task 2: determine optimal oyster larvae rearing conditions in artificial seawater in a closed recirculating aquaculture system (months 5-8)Spawning of oysters from Task 1 or of oysters obtained from Grand Isle, LA or Cocodrie, LA will produce larvae for these experiments. Oyster larvae will be equally split into five 200 L cone bottom tanks setup for flow-through culture (FAO, 2004). In the Phase 1 effort the effect of flow rates on larvae growth will be tested (see Table 2).Tank 1 will have no flow through and will operate as a static tank with a total water change every two days. Tank 2 will have a "fast" rate of 200 L per hour, equivalent to one tank volume per hour. Tank 3 will have a rate equivalent to Tank 1, but spread over a 2 day period of 4.17L per hour. Tank 4 will be set at 50L per hour flow-through, and Tank 5 will be set at 100L per hour flow-through. All tanks will be stocked at an initial concentration of 20 D-hinge oyster larvae per mL.Table 2. Flow-through rates for larvae rearing tanks 1 to 5.Tank #Flow-throughRate (L/hr)10220034.174505100Dissolved oxygen, salinity, and pH will be recorded daily in each tank. Additional water analyses will be performed by Wetland Biogeochemistry Analytical Services (WBAS) at Louisiana State University. Specifically, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and alkalinity will be monitored every 4 days in the 5 tanks, with samples being taken from Tank #1 before and after the water is changed.As many replicates as possible will be performed before the end of the Phase 1 period. If there is a significant difference in the growth of larvae amongst the 5 tanks the experimental range of flow-through rates will be adjusted to attempt to narrow our results if time permits. Once an optimum flow rate is observed, additional experiments will be performed to examine the stocking densities of the larvae in each tank at a set flow rate, once again if time permits; otherwise this would be examined in a Phase 2 project. Feed quality and quantity is another variable that would be investigated further during a Phase 2 project.Task 3: Development of a land-based oyster setting and bottle nursery to produce oyster seed ranging in size from 1mm to 3mm. (Months 6-8)When oyster larvae are 12-18 days old they go through metamorphosis to become eyed-larvae. At this stage they are ready to undergo a final metamorphism to become an oyster seed or spat. Setting tables will be utilized in our inland hatchery to "set" these larvae on micro cultch. Micro cultch is finely ground oyster shell size selected for particle between 250 and 300 microns in size. Artificial seawater will be utilized in a closed recirculating aquaculture system to all the larvae a period of up to 5 days to transition in to oyster seed. After setting is completed the newly formed oyster seed will be transferred to an inland bottle nursery where they will be grown from approximately 350 microns in size up to 3 mm in size for sale to commercial oyster farms across the US Gulf Coast. Artificial seawater will be utilized for all aspect of growth in the nursery. Feed will be produced from algae ponds that are maintained on site at the LSU Innovation Park immediately adjacent to the hatchery/nursery operations. Between the months of May and October of 2019 Triple N Oyster Farm successfully grew algae in artificial seawater to concentrations exceeding 2 million cells per mL. Of significance: we are able to maintain high concentration of algae and exponential growth even through the hottest periods of the summer with temperatures exceeding 36C in the algal pools. We have a total algae pool capacity of 45,000L.The two variables of concern are water chemistry and feed quality and quantity. Initial experiments will attempt to grow from 1 to 12 million oyster seed from 350 microns to 3 mm in size. During this grow out phase water analysis will be performed every three days to measure alkalinity, calcium, dissolved oxygen, nitrate, nitrite, pH, salinity, temperature, and total ammonia. Dissolved oxygen and pH will be recorded daily at the hatchery. Additional water analyses will be performed by Wetland Biogeochemistry Analytical Services (WBAS) at Louisiana State University. We hypothesize that calcium in the form of aragonite may fall in concentration as the oysters utilize aragonite as a principle component of their shells. We intend to supplement the seawater with calcium carbonate (aragonite) to maintain high growth rates in the closed recirculating system.If successful our growth rates should approach 1mm per week. If time permits we will conduct additional experiments with a commercial oyster nursery located in Grand Isle, LA (Grand Isle Sea Farms, Boris Guerrero). In these experiments 2 million 350 micron oyster seed will be split equally between the inland nursery in Baton Rouge and the Grand Isle nursery to compare growth rates.To meet the demands of the industry data from Task 3 will be utilized to design a large scale inland oyster nursery with much larger algal ponds and a larger nursery footprint.
Project Methods
Experiments designed on previous observations will be conducted to reach the project goals. Statistical analyses will be used to determine signifigant dofferences exist. Results will be communicated through publication in peer reviewed journals, presentations at conferences, and hatchery to hatchery communications.