Jestersix

article on ocean acidification along the CA coast

RIchard, thank you for sharing that article. Acidification is not just negatively affecting coral reefs--it's already having an impact on our California coast.
 
Oyster hatcheries have been having a lot of problems with upwelled water affecting survival of larvae. These problems seem to be related to the fact that presently our upwelled water has a lower pH than upwelled water of even 10 years ago. The larvae are very sensitive and present-day pH conditions during upwelling are below a critical threshold for the larvae.

You can watch some scientific presentations about California Acidification here:
http://www.sccwrp.org/Meetings/Workshops/OceanAcidificationWorkshop.aspx
 
Crabby said:
Oyster hatcheries have been having a lot of problems with upwelled water affecting survival of larvae. These problems seem to be related to the fact that presently our upwelled water has a lower pH than upwelled water of even 10 years ago. The larvae are very sensitive and present-day pH conditions during upwelling are below a critical threshold for the larvae.

You can watch some scientific presentations about California Acidification here:
http://www.sccwrp.org/Meetings/Workshops/OceanAcidificationWorkshop.aspx
Click to expand...

Yah, up in WA, the largest shellfish producer moved their spat production to HI< and another major hatchery just followed the lead. Now the critical stage is done in an area less effected.

Massive tens of millions of dollars move... those hatcheries are massive.
 
One thing to remember is that the oyster industry on the west coast is NOT based on a local native oyster that evolved under the highly pH variable conditions that characterize our coast. Rather, the species is an oyster that is native to warmer waters and requires warm temperatures during the early part of embryonic and larval development, even though the adults do just fine in our cooler water. So, moving the hatchery to Hawaii actually makes a lot of sense when you consider the environment that is best suited to early development. Shipping the spat will be more expensive, but maybe not as expensive as you might think when you balance the cost of not paying for heating the hatchery water.
 
Crabby said:
One thing to remember is that the oyster industry on the west coast is NOT based on a local native oyster that evolved under the highly pH variable conditions that characterize our coast. Rather, the species is an oyster that is native to warmer waters and requires warm temperatures during the early part of embryonic and larval development, even though the adults do just fine in our cooler water. So, moving the hatchery to Hawaii actually makes a lot of sense when you consider the environment that is best suited to early development. Shipping the spat will be more expensive, but maybe not as expensive as you might think when you balance the cost of not paying for heating the hatchery water.
Click to expand...

:lol: My dad does that to me as well... telling me stuff I already know :D They could do it in WA if they totally got off live phyto and went to using paste instead (allowing a major drop in water volume needed). There also is the newer IOCS that is being developed that I suspect will revolutionize the bivalve industry. But I cannot talk about that beyond the acronym I posted :lol:

My employer not only sells to all the shellfish hatcheries, we got our start in farming oysters :D That's where Inland Seafarm came about.
 
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