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Oyster spat bags4/29/2023 ![]() Suspended culture involves hanging nets or trays containing spat from some means of flotation system. By allowing them to finish directly on the beach, they allow the oysters time to develop harder shells and stronger adductor mussels, while saving themselves the time and expense of dealing with the bags as the oysters start to increase in size. By allowing oyster spat to start in bags on the beach, a farm can increase their survival rate significantly. ![]() Many farms now utilize a combination of these two methods, starting spat in bags and then transferring them to the beach as they get a little bigger and heavier. Oysters left piled together will grow much more slowly, and worse, they will grow poorly shaped… long thin (snaky) shells, shells without much cup, or shells with their hinges wrapped around underneath them. In order to produce oysters that get the increased growth rate and that are well shaped, the bags must be thinned out regularly as the product grows in size, and they must be flipped over numerous times to keep any prevailing winds or currents from piling the oysters into one end. These oysters will mature more quickly than those that are beach grown, however, this method is more labor intensive. Predictably, the shells of bag cultured oysters are thinner than those of beach cultured oysters, and their appearance is more liable to include some combination of blues, purples, tans, browns, and whites, depending on the mineral content of the water in which they are grown. In addition, it will block a significant amount of the sunlight that bleaches the color out of their shells. The oysters are considerably more protected than those that are beach cultured, as the mesh bags keep many predators at bay and will also protect the oysters from some of the weather abuse that slows their growth. Large mesh bags containing oyster spat are attached to lines that are in turn staked to the beach in the intertidal zone. They tend to be grayish in appearance, as the sun bleaches the color out of their shells over time.īag culture is also common. They end up being the thickest shelled oysters, and usually the easiest to open, because of this slow growth. ![]() Beach culture produces the slowest growing oysters, as they are subject to wind, wave, and tidal abuse that tend to wear away their fragile new shells. To overcome this, some farms will cover the spat with netting or put them into fenced pens. Once spread onto the beach, spat are vulnerable to natural predators like crabs, starfish, birds, and oyster drill snails as their shells are still very thin. Spat can be purchased at different levels of development, with the more mature product costing the most. Generally, oyster spat is purchased from a hatchery and spread onto a farms beach in the intertidal zone. Is the simplest and most common method of growing oysters in the Pacific Northwest. Currently, there are 820 oyster culture sites accounting for a total of 7,296 acres of oyster leases.The four most common oyster culture techniques in the Pacific Northwest are: There are multiple growing techniques and varying types of gear utilized by the industry, however, recently the utilization of gear that floats near the surface has become the aquaculture industry standard. The oyster aquaculture industry has seen encouraging development over the last decade and includes culture on both bottom and off-bottom (surface) leases. In 2014 there were 7.3 million pounds of oysters harvested at a landed value of 9.9 million dollars. The Island industry is unique in that our oyster harvest comes from both our long standing and storied public fishery, as well as a new and developing cultured oyster industry. Oysters are harvested from the majority of rivers, bays and estuaries around the Island however, the western portion of the Island is home to the majority of oysters. The Island is the second largest oyster producing province in Canada and the largest oyster producer in Atlantic Canada. The Eastern Oyster (Crassostrea virginica) has a long history of production in Prince Edward Island.
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