Debuting our new compact shellfish research hatchery

April 13, 2012 — bkingzett

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Several months ago at lunch we gave ourselves a challenge: “Could we turn one of the new wet labs into a compact shellfish hatchery that could be used for our Olympia Oyster restoration efforts and produce significant numbers of shellfish seed for commercial research?”.  More importantly could we take lessons from the building systems and make the hatchery as energy efficient as possible?

After a lot of hard work by the team, this week our new “compact hatchery” really came on line.  This is what it looks like from the public viewing mezzanine.  Read on for a long geeky shellfish explanation of what we are up to and some shots of us spawning geoducks which is pretty crazy in itself. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Research Activities, Shellfish Farming. Tags: , , , , , . Leave a Comment »

SOLAR FLUPSY project update: Design and Construction Report

February 12, 2012 — bkingzett

Solar Flupsy anchored in the grid

Renewable energy and shellfish farming, using solar energy to grow oyster seed that will then sequester ocean CO2 – what’s not to like?  Our first post about our new demonstration Solar Powered FLUPSY (Floating Upweller System). We’re very excited about this project and as performance data becomes available we will be reporting a lot more but for now a rather longish post and photo essay about the design and construction. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Aquaculture, Baynes Sound, Research Activities, Shellfish Farming, Sustainability. Tags: , , , , , , , , , . 2 Comments »

Welcome new researcher Dr. Linda D’Anna; social science, ecology and shellfish!

October 7, 2011 — bkingzett

Linda D'Anna 11.10.07

Social science and shellfish. Are shellfish social? Well, oysters, for example, are referred to as gregarious since their larvae preferentially select settlement locations – where they will live for the rest of their lives – near other oysters. But that isn’t exactly the kind of social up for study by a new project supported by the Institute for Coastal Research and the Centre for Shellfish Research.  We’re pretty excited about the newest member of the team Dr. Linda D’Anna who is starting new research to characterize the social-ecological properties, processes, and interactions within the Baynes Sound ecosystem that promote social-ecological resilience. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Baynes Sound, Community, Research Activities. Tags: , , , , , , . 1 Comment »

Ocean Acidification – an important video to watch

September 30, 2011 — bkingzett

A seriously good video about Ocean Acidification – well worth taking the 12 minutes to watch. If you deal with shellfish larvae in the Pacific Northwest this is a big issue and potential effects on the shellfish industry may just be a harbringer for all of us. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Baynes Sound, Research Activities. Tags: , , , , . 2 Comments »

Research Objective: Restoration of the Native (Olympia) Oyster

July 14, 2011 — bkingzett

Oly heaven

Did you know that the oyster grown in BC and most of the rest of the world is an import from Japan? Brought in after overfishing and pollution destroyed populations of our Native oyster? Or that 85 % of all the native oyster reefs in the world have vanished? Or that we have been working on the Native (Olympia) oyster since 2008 and now are starting a more active program?  If not read on…. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Conservation, Research Activities. Tags: , , , , , , , , . 3 Comments »

Reporting out on Shellfish Genomics Project

April 15, 2011 — bkingzett

This week CSR Research Scientist Dr. Helen Gurney-Smith and her team reported out on the My-Tome project to shellfish industry partners and staff from Genome BC our funding partner.Mytome mtg 1
Helen’s team in conjunction with Dr. Stuart Johnson at Fisheries and Oceans Canada is developing a sensitive genomic tool for multiple marine mussels, known keystone species, enabling more accurate health assessments of coastal zones including aquaculture operations, thus facilitating the ability to monitor the effects of the changing environment. Read the rest of this entry »

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New Raft Technology Project – Final Report

October 13, 2010 — bkingzett

Note: This updates a previous post.

RAFT_B_5FB_CAD_Snapshot

We are pleased to report the results of our project to develop engineered prototypes for new shellfish aquaculture rafts.   We hope that these rafts will  lead to increasing the productivity and sustainability of the shellfish industry. Older raft designs in use are mostly constructed from wood and coated Styrofoam (like many older docks). These can degrade with age and in extreme weather conditions may be at risk up resulting in losses of crops and creation of marine debris. In 2006 unusually large storms resulted in large losses of rafts and we have been working with the shellfish industry since to develop new designs. With assistance of the Aquaculture Innovation and Market Access Program we engaged Dynamic Systems Analysis Ltd. in Victoria to help develop new designs through advanced engineering methods and virtual prototyping.

Download the Project Report with plans

Download the Executive Summary and Plans

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Aquaculture, Research Activities, Uncategorized. Tags: . 4 Comments »

Spartina, Marine Invasive Plants in Baynes Sound

August 7, 2010 — bkingzett

What’s wrong with this picture taken in the Courtney Estuary?

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Read on to find out. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Baynes Sound, Research Activities. Tags: . Leave a Comment »

Developing the Native Basket Cockle for Aquaculture

May 27, 2010 — bkingzett

We are seeing very promising results for developing the native basket cockle (Clinocardium nuttallii) as a new species for aquaculture in BC.  For several years now research teams at the CSR have worked on developing hatchery and now grow-out techniques.
Cultured Clinocardium Nuttali
Cockles in off-bottom tray culture on the Deep Bay Field Station Farm site.

More project details follow. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Aquaculture, Research Activities, Shellfish Farming. Tags: , , , , , , , , . 1 Comment »

Development of New Shellfish Raft Technologies

February 17, 2010 — bkingzett

Last week we began launching new prototype rafts for shellfish aquaculture which we hope will lead to increasing the productivity and sustainability of the shellfish industry.  Older raft designs in use are mostly constructed from wood and coated Styrofoam (like many  older docks).  These can degrade with age and in extreme weather conditions may be at risk up resulting in losses of crops and creation of marine debris.  In 2006 unusually large storms resulted in large losses of rafts and we have been working with the shellfish industry since to develop new designs.  With assistance of the Aquaculture Innovation and Market Access Program we engaged Dynamic Systems Analysis Ltd. in Victoria to help develop new designs through advanced engineering methods and virtual prototyping.

The video below is a virtual simulation of three of our new prototypes in an extreme weather environment.

This technique has allowed us to “virtually” model and test a variety of construction materials and over 30 designs before settling on the current prototypes.

Follow the link below for a photoessay on the actual prototypes getting built.  We are now going to test the variations of our prototypes at the Deep Bay Field Station research farm and then later release the plans to industry.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Aquaculture, Research Activities, Shellfish Farming, Sustainability. Tags: , . 2 Comments »
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