In 2001, the main focus of the COMES Aquaculture program at HMSC was the USDA-funded Molluscan Broodstock Program (MBP). This purpose of this program is to develop superior Pacific oyster broodstock for the West Coast shellfish industry through genetic selection. About 500 families of Pacific oysters have been produced. Research assistants Sean Matson, John Brake, Ebru Önal and crew have planted these families at commercial test sites along the West Coast, from Prince William Sound, Alaska, to Tomales Bay, California.

On average we have observed that families from selected MBP broodstock produced yields that were 9.5% greater than those of families from wild oysters, indicating that yield is a heritable trait. Selected MBP families were used in several commercial hatcheries in 2001 to produce millions of seed for large-scale evaluation. It is important to be able to identify MBP families that perform well across a wide range of environments so that they can be used by commercial hatcheries for seed production. Graduate student Ford Evans is addressing this question by studying interactions between environment and yields of Pacific oysters. This year, graduate student Paul Lang joined the program to continue MBP research.

Abalone aquaculture has great commercial potential in Oregon, as long as an alternative to kelp can be found as a suitable abalone food because harvested wild kelp is in short supply. Graduate student Carl Demetropoulos has focused on optimizing the culture of dulse (Palmaria mollis) as a food for abalone. This OSU-developed technology has been adopted by a multi-million dollar abalone farm in Hawaii. A joint patent application between OSU and the Hawaiian farm for a fast-growing strain of dulse was issued by the U.S. Patent Office in 2001. Carl is planning to defend his Ph.D in spring 2002 and is presently teaching at the new Channel Islands Cal State University.

Graduate student Blaine Griffen has worked on a joint project with Ted DeWitt, EPA, to study the feeding physiology of mud shrimp and their impact on phytoplankton abundance in Yaquina Bay. Mud shrimp are very abundant in Oregon's estuaries and Blaine has shown that they have a major impact on phytoplankton concentrations due to their suspension-feeding activities. Their burrowing activities are also responsible for huge losses of shellfish habitat in Oregon's estuaries because mud shrimp soften the substrate and bury oysters and clams. Blaine successfully defended his Masters thesis in winter 2002 and will be continuing with a Ph.D at the University of New Hampshire.

On the West Coast, rearing commercially important marine species, such as sable fish, may become increasingly important in meeting our food demands, as natural fish stocks decline and fishing becomes more limited. Development of techniques for rearing marine fish larvae will be important in the development of marine fish aquaculture on the West Coast, U.S. As part of this effort, graduate student Umur Önal has developed various novel microparticulate feeds for marine fish larvae, using clown fish larvae as a model species. As part of this project, Umur has established a breeding population of clown fish at HMSC that is capable of producing several hundred larvae each week, ensuring a reliable supply of larvae for diet development.

Publications
Langdon, C.J. 2001. Microparticle types for delivery of nutrients to marine fish larvae. Aquaculture, accepted.

Demetropoulos and Langdon. 2001. Palmaria algal strains and methods for their use. U.S. Patent No.6,258,588. July 10th 2001.