I attended an Alabama-Mississippi Oyster Community of Practice meeting last Saturday morning at the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources in Biloxi. It was more of a mini-symposium than a meeting. Much like our Bays and Bayous Symposium, it had exhibitor tables, poster presentations and talks. And one of the best things (for me) was seeing how much of the information had ties to our Sea Grant program.
The tables had representatives from the Department of Marine Resources, Mississippi Based RESTORE Act Center of Excellence (MBRACE), University of South Mississippi’s Thad Cochran Marine Aquaculture Center, Nature Conservancy, Dauphin Island Sea Lab’s Smee Lab, Auburn University Shellfish Lab and Gulf Shellfish Farmers Association.
I learned from Kayla Boyd, a research scientist at Auburn University Shellfish Lab, about past and present oyster research (some funded by Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant) at the shellfish lab. And, Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant funded her as a student when she was studying PFAS in oysters.
Lee Smee, University Programs Chair at Dauphin Island Sea Lab, also talked about his research studying how exposure to urine from blue crabs (and sheepshead, black drum and stone crab) that are fed oysters can cause growing oysters to make their shells stronger. Stronger shells can improve oyster survival for both aquaculture and restoration. He refers to the research as “scared strong” and said it had its beginnings with a small grant from our Sea Grant program. During an overview of his research, he said the small grant allowed a student to look into the concept, which led to more funding from our Sea Grant program and other sources to continue the research. Just one example of the research’s impact is that the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources now exposes its oysters to predator cues to help improve survival.
Jessica Pruett, a postdoctoral research associate with MBRACE, gave an overview of MBRACE and some of its funded research, like a project at Jackson State University that, among other things, is collecting and studying oyster gape sensor data to create an app that will provide real-time oyster health information. She also talked about Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant’s roles in running MBRACE’s research competition and sharing MBRACE research results through our outreach programing.
Ellen Coffin, biological program coordinator-shellfish of the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources, gave a presentation on how people can become oyster farmers in Mississippi. She covered the training program (which Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant had a hand in), licenses, leases and more. When potential farmers fill out their application packet, they are required to complete the Oyster Farming Resilience Index, which Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant created to help farmers identify strengths and weaknesses in their farm operations and improve long-term viability. The resilience index includes sections on business planning, marketing, disaster preparedness planning, workforce, water and oyster monitoring and regulatory knowledge.
Our program is also funding the project that created and coordinates the Alabama-Mississippi Oyster Community of Practice, which brings together people interested in oysters to discuss issues facing the resource and work toward solutions.
If you’d like to read more about how our program has helped grow the oyster aquaculture industry, check out “Role of Sea Grant in establishing commercial oyster aquaculture through applied research and extension” in the Journal of Contemporary Water Research & Education.
Meet the author
Melissa Schneider
Communications Coordinator
Melissa Schneider coordinates public information, educational media and communication services for Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant. Some of MASGC's communications projects include our website, social... Read more
Phone: 228-818-8838
Email: [email protected]