Mobile Oyster Hatcheries

 Shellfish hatcheries represent the tip of the biomass pyramid for aquaculture, where a large and diverse market for shellfish production is serviced by comparatively few hatcheries. In the US, twenty or so hatchery companies service thousands of shellfish grow out companies. This scenario of large-scale hatchery production in relatively few places is precarious because failure of just one of these facilities can cause a significant strain on seed production for much of the industry.

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By creating a relatively inexpensive and simple-to-operate mobile shellfish hatchery, hatchery production could become more decentralized, effectively reducing product shortages through redundancy while allowing more participation in the seed market, promoting diversification.  Our objectives are to evaluate the relative success of Mobile Oyster Hatchery (MOH) operation in three locations, two of which are on distant shores and to evaluate production costs and capacity of the modular hatchery.