Aquaculture America 2021

August 11 - 14, 2021

San Antonio, Texas

DEVELOPMENT OF A RECIRCULATING AQUACULTURE SYSTEM FOR BIVALVE LARVAL CULTURE

Michael Schwarz*, Christopher D. Bentley, Richard Snyder, Reza Ovissipour, Steve Urick, Jonathan van Senten, Michael Congrove, and Kasey Bond
 
Virginia Tech - VSAREC
 102 South King Street
 Hampton Virginia 23669
 mschwarz@vt.edu
 

Typical bivalve larval hatchery practices rely on pumping near-shore coastal waters to support flow through larval production. In such applications, suboptimal ambient water quality can cause impaired hatchery/larviculture performance.  The application of recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS), have long been investigated to allow reuse of larval production water, thereby minimizing impacts from fluctuating ambient coastal waters. This presentation will follow the progression in development of such a system in Virginia, integrating programming from the Virginia Institute of Marine Science Eastern Shore Lab, the Virginia Tech - Virginia Seafood Agriculture Research and Extension Center, Virginia Sea Grant, and Oyster Seed Holdings, LLC.