UNDERSTANDING ECOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF SHELLFISH PATHOGENS TO IMPROVE MANAGEMENT

The ability to detect pathogens, predict their presence, and control their impact is of paramount importance to the management of shellfish populations (wild or farmed) in New Jersey and elsewhere. It follows that by enhancing our understanding of host-pathogen-environment interactions we can identify potential control points and develop new or improve existing strategies to lessen the negative impacts of these pathogens. Successful strategies will lead to increases in aquaculture and fisheries production as well as improvements in the protection of human health. This is an umbrella project that encompasses several aspects of shellfish ecology and pathology research at HSRL. The project will leverage external funding to address specific objectives to meet the overall goal. High quality problem-solving research and outreach will be driven through the peer review process of external funding. The starting point for understanding the ecology of pathogens is a basic monitoring program to track the distribution and abundance of pathogens across seasons and years and two programs are currently in place at HSRL to assist in this process: (1) the Delaware Bay Oyster Seed Bed Monitoring Program funded by the State of New Jersey to assist in the management off the Delaware Bay oyster industry, and (2) the Mussel Watch Status and Trends program funded by NOAA to track contaminants and pathogens in shellfish along US coastal waters. Support will be sought from various agencies including, NOAA, NSF, EPA, NEP, NFWF, NRAC, USDA, Sea Grant and others to ensure high quality research is funded. Results will be published and presented at local, regional, national and international meetings as appropriate to disseminate findings. Service on local, regional and national committees and boards as well as collaboration with various stakeholders will ensure that outreach occurs directly to interested parties that are most able to utilize finding from our research. For example, updates from of the Delaware Bay Oyster Seed Bed Monitoring Program are presented monthly at the Delaware Bay Shellfisheries Council meetings and an annual report of findings is presented annually at the Delaware Bay Oyster Stock Assessment Workshop.