HATCHERY-BASED OYSTER SEED PRODUCTION IN LOUISIANA
After over 20 years of outdoor, seasonal, hatchery production, Louisiana enters a new era in oyster seed production. The Michael C. Voisin Oyster Hatchery, located on Grand Isle, La,, supports larval remote setting for public oyster reef rehabilitation and private nurseries to support alternative oyster culture (AOC). The facility has 4.5 m2 of both ground and elevated (6m) floors of concrete; the steel roofed structure built to withstand up to 241 k/h winds. Larval production is supported by an eight conical (400 L) high density (100/ml) rearing system supported by a 144 hanging bag (dia. 0.3 m) algal production system using LED lighting, with emphasis on blue and red spectra. The hatchery's use of ambient baywater is managed using three 30,283 L storage tanks for 24 hr water treatment using compressed disk, bead and cartridge filtration and pH adjustment, with foam fractionation during times of visual organic loading and elevated COD levels. Ultraviolet light disinfection when recirculating hatchery water will be used during times of low ambient salinity or excessive local runoff during tropical weather. The hatchery is managed primarily to support the state's new 56.6 m3 spat-on-shell remote setting facility in Buras, LA. The Sea Grant Oyster Research Laboratory operates within the hatchery, with a nearshore oyster research and demonstration farm, which supports diploid, triploid, and tetraploid oyster broodstocks. The laboratory produces triploid larvae and/or 2mm seed for distribution by the Louisiana Oyster Dealers & Growers Association for commercial use.