Development of Tools for Measuring the Costs of Feeding and Food Utilization in Eastern Oysters
Principal Investigator: Paul Rawson (Marine Sciences, UMaine)
Partners: Carrie Byron (Marine Science, University of New England); Chris Davis (Maine Aquaculture Innovation Center)
Abstract: Maine’s oyster culture industry has grown substantially since its inception four decades ago. Continued growth of the industry will rely on increasing the efficiency of production through improved and more uniform growth of oysters on Maine’s farms. To accomplish this, the goal of this project is to provide detailed knowledge of the genetic and ontogenetic variation in food utilization and costs of food acquisition in oysters supporting improved site selection and selective breeding for oysters with improved food conversion efficiency.