The goal of the “Northeast Bivalve Hatchery Health Consortium (NEBHHC): Managing Larval Mortalities in Northeast Hatcheries” is to support the growth of the bivalve shellfish industry in the USA by providing access to diagnostic tools helping hatcheries ensure reliable production of bivalve seed. The objectives for this consortium are to: (1) identify the causes of bivalve hatchery larval mortalities and crashes in the Northeast US through an integrated, collaborative, and proactive approach to sample collection and analysis; and (2) develop strategies and protocols to manage and minimize larval crashes in hatcheries.
During the 2024 and 2025 hatchery seasons, we will be working with commercial and public/research hatcheries wishing to participate in the project to collect algae, water, and larvae from a variety of larval runs, including “good” (successful performance) and “bad” (lower performance or crashes). Hatcheries will also provide data relevant to larval performance. All individual hatchery information collected will remain confidential. We will provide all supplies for the sample collections, cover shipping fees, and cover the cost of disease diagnosis. The goal of this presentation is to inform others of this work and strengthen our experimental plan and enlist hatcheries and other stakeholders (e.g., researchers, extension specialists) to participate in the NEBHHC. Members of the NEBHHC coordinating team, include pathologists, ecologists, hatchery managers, and extension specialists, connections made will answer questions and gather feedback from stakeholders on how to address this critical issue of larval crashes.