report
A 2014 FRG program provided funds for Headley to evaluate whether sets prior to mid-April would survive in the colder waters in his creek during March and early April.
Spat on shell product.
Checking the shell bags for strike before planting.
10 » Aquaculture Magazine
few years to evaluate ways to reduce the incidence of Vibrio and to improve single-shell oyster production. It’s a great opportunity, Oesterling said, for someone to try something different without jeopardizing their livelihood. John Vigliotta of Ward Oyster on Ware Neck on the Middle Peninsula of Virginia’s western shore, has used SOS for several years to fill the critical summer market niche. But, he says, “there’s still a lot for shellfish growers to contend with.” Closures due to water quality, predation by cow nose rays, market fluctuations, Vibrio regulations, limited waterfront access – and access to good clean shell, an increasingly limited commodity. Tim Rapine of Cherrystone Aquafarms on the eastern shore of Virginia has eyed the FRG program for a couple of years, since the company committed to adding SOS production to it’s already successful line of hard clam and single oyster culture. “We’d have to set aside the time [for the project], but we still have many questions – especially about substrate, since oyster shell is such a limited commodity,” Rapine said. Summer harvest of oysters grown from spat-on-shell is underway. Oysters ripe for the shucking market – and few for the half-shell trade – are being dredged up from private grounds on the eastern and western shores of Virginia, and growers are calculating their returns. “We’re pretty lucky in Virginia, we’ve got both VIMS and the Virginia