Programme damlioration gntique de lhutre amricaine au NouveauBrunswick

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Past, present and future work at the New
Brunswick Shellfish Hatchery
Chantal Gionet, MSc Project leader, shellfish
research Scotian Pride conference, Halifax,
NB January 31, 2009
Affiliated to
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Introduction
New Brunswick Aquarium and Marine Centre
Coastal Zones Research Institute Inc
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1996 / New species
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Bar clam, quahog and soft-shell clam / hatchery

• Densities and diet for the best larval and
  juvenile performance
• Semi-continuous larval rearing trials.
• Testing tank design and size
• Indoor overwintering trials

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Bar clam, quahog and soft-shell clam / field

• Develop strategies to grow the bar clam and
  quahog
• Best systems for all size class (densities,
  growth and survival)
• Spat collection trials for soft-shell clams
• Notata vs wild stock
• Overwintering techniques

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Atlantic jackknife (Ensis directus)

• Broodstock conditioning, larval and spat grow-out
  were tested in hatchery
• Larval and juvenile diet comparison
• Settling trials with vs without sand

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2003 /American oyster
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Selective breeding program

• Objective
• Determine if the characters (growth and survival)
  chosen can be selected to be able to improve the
  performance of oysters grown in aquaculture
  settings.

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Selective breeding program

• Production of F1 generation families
• 2005 7 families 2 POOL
• 2007 15 families 4 POOL
• 2009 families to be produce in winter 2009

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Results / F1 2007
F97 and 93 Growth 17.86 and 17.78 mm
F 98 Growth 15,58 mm
Natural spat collection Growth 13,91 mm
Natural spat collection Growth 9,60 mm
2007
2008
Growth in one year of 1,6 X and 1,3 X more than
the natural spat collection (39 and 23 )
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Observations

• It is early in the program but we can observe
• Better growth than the natural spat collection
  from only the first generation in hatchery
• Mortality is low for most of the families for the
  first years
• Seems that we can select for the traits the
  industry chose (growth, survival)

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Triploid vs. Diploid

• Objective
• Verify if American oyster triploids will have a
  better growth and yield compared to diploids in
  New-Brunswick.
• Observation
• Mass winter mortality in both groups the first
  year.

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Improvement of hatchery techniquesProbiotic

• Winter 2008
• First trials at the IRZC hatchery with shellfish
• Added to the larval culture at day 2
• 2 different probiotic (L68 and gR)
• 2 different formulations (fresh and freeze
  dried)

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Improvement of hatchery techniques Settling

• Winter 2008
• Low and variable settling percentages (15-20 vs
  65-80)
• Cold (6 hours at 4C)
• Diet (Tetraselmis s.p. / Chaetoceros calcitrans)
• Winter 2009 (post-doc study)
• Cold
• Diet (Tetraselmis s.p.)
• Hormone (epinephrine)
• Light
• Substrate conditioning

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Improvement of hatchery techniques Alternative
food

• NutrOcean (concentrate)
• Skretting (dry feed)
• Ori-culture

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Collaboration with industry(André Mallet / New
private shellfish hatchery in Shippagan)

• Technology transfer (training) and space for
  research (winter 2008)
• Bay scallop

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Contribution to the development of shellfish
research

• Centre for Aquaculture and Development /Marine
  Institute of Memorial University of Newfoundland
• Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Maine
• New Brunswick growers
• Students (masters, doctorate and
  post-doctorate)

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Future project

• New technology
• Cawthrons ultra density larval system / New
  Zealand
• Flow through
• Density increase / from 2-20 larvae/ml to
  100-1000 larvae/ml
• ex 17 millions eyed larvae vs. 510 000 eyed
  larvae in 170 litres tank
• Reduction of tank size / more in less space
• Water savings up to 45

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Future project

• Continuation of the genetic program and triploid
  vs. diploid comparison
• Collaboration with the new shellfish hatchery
  team
• Project on comparison of algae growing system
  (winter 2009)
• Brite box vs. Kawaal
• Probiotic 2 year project
• Alternative food NutrOcean , Skretting

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Importance of hatcheries

• Genetic selection
• Triploids
• Possibility to produce new species

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Thank you !
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