Health & Husbandry

The CSR is establishing a comprehensive and integrated program on shellfish health and husbandry. The Shellfish Health and Husbandry Research Program (SHHRP) will dovetail effectively with the Ecological Interactions Research Program (EIRP).

The SHHRP will focus on research projects that will enable the adoption of sustainable health and husbandry management and operational practices by BC shellfish farmers.

Basket cockle, Clinocardium nuttallii

Why a Shellfish Health and Husbandry Research Program?

The five factors necessitating the development of the SHHRP include:

1. Development of intensive culture practices. The BC shellfish industry is just beginning to develop intensive culture practices. Research to improve shellfish health and husbandry is therefore, both timely and necessary to address a priori potential shellfish health issues.
   
2. Changes in oceanic conditions. While annual variability in ocean conditions have always presented a challenge for aquaculturists, changes in global weather patterns are now exacerbating this challenge.
   
3. Emerging threat of invasive species. The potential impact of an invasive species is made evident by the infestation of certain eastern US waters by an invasive tunicate native to Europe . This tunicate – which has now been identified in Puget Sound – creates dense mats that can smother other marine organisms – including shellfish.
   
4. Health and environmental monitoring requirements. An established capacity for health and environmental monitoring will be required to ensure the ongoing and future success of the shellfish aquaculture industry (as well as the parallel shellfish fisheries). Shellfish health and environmental monitoring are key issues for trade and market access.
   Recent funding support to the National Aquatic Animal Health Program (NAAHP) provides an important opportunity for the CSR to partner in capacity development for shellfish health monitoring and surveillance to ensure trade and market access. Shellfish heath and husbandry research will underpin this activity
   
5. Identified R&D needs. Recent industry workshops organized by the CSR (Shellfish Mortality Workshop and Shellfish Aquaculture R&D Priority Setting Workshop) also support the need for a comprehensive shellfish health and husbandry program.

Cockle on-growing – field

Elements of Shellfish Health and Husbandry Research Program

The SHHRP will be comprised of the following elements:

1. Development of Health Assessment Tools. The viability of shellfish culture is currently limited by an inability to properly evaluate the quality of seed and the effects of different stresses imposed by husbandry practices. The SHHRP will develop health assessment tools which will lead to the establishment of standards for seed quality– as well as ‘real-time' evaluations of the effects of stress induced by various husbandry practices.
   
2. Practical Application of Health Assessment Tools. The SHHRP will study husbandry and handling practices that have the potential to negatively impact shellfish growth and survival - and will attempt to biochemically quantify:
   a) the stresses each method imposes on the animals and
   b) the period required for the animals to return to physiological equilibrium.
   Both the development and the practical application of the health assessment tools will reduce the occurrence of stress-mediated pathogenic diseases on shellfish cultures as well as limit the transfer of pathogens to the environment and the wild populations of finfish and shellfish.
3. Surveillance, Environmental Monitoring and Maintenance of High Health. The SHHRP will assist in the development of disease prevention strategies to:
   a) maintain a healthy marine environment;
   b) ensure the production of healthy shellfish that meet domestic and international health standards;
   c) ensure the science-based selection of shellfish aquaculture sites – thereby providing guidance and support for public policy.
   
4. Development of new species. The SHHRP will undertake research supporting the development of indigenous species new to BC shellfish aquaculture.

Research currently underway is focused on the development of techniques for reliably maturing and spawning broodstock of the indigenous cockle Clinocardium nuttali. Other aspects to be investigated by the SHHRP include the development of hatchery and nursery techniques and grow-out methods for indigenous species.

Dr. Wenshan Liu, Edith Billington, Dr. Helen Gurney-Smith, Dr. Chris Pearce, Amanda Beerens and Simon Yuan (left to right in photograph)