In 2005, shellfish growers began to encounter difficulties in rearing hatchery-produced oyster larvae and in successfully setting wild populations of oysters. Preliminary research indicated that increasingly acidic, nutrient replete, deep, upwelled waters could be the cause of the increase in oyster mortalities. The upwelled seawater may retard oyster larval development by dissolving calcium carbonate shells, exposing larvae to gas super-saturated conditions and harboring increased concentrations of the bacterium Vibrio tubiashii.

To help shellfish growers adapt, PCSGA initiated a targeted research project to identify environmental stressors of oyster populations and to isolate genetic stocks of oysters that offer enhanced resilience. Four projects were proposed:

1. Equip hatcheries to treat the chemistry of seawater and evaluate efficacy:  Poor water quality caused Whiskey Creek Shellfish Hatchery and Taylor Shellfish Hatchery to have years with low production of oyster larvae. In 2008, a commercial-scale water treatment system was installed at Whiskey Creek to reduce the concentration of Vibrio tubiashii, a bacterium that is harmful to larval oysters. The water treatment system did not increase larval survival, indicating that Vibrio may not be the sole cause of oyster larvae mortality. Larval mortality coincided with periods of intense upwelling suggesting that changes in seawater chemistry may also be correlated to low production rates. To understand water quality issues in hatcheries, PCSGA proposes to update hatchery water treatment facilities with technologies able to alter the chemistry of large quantities of seawater. Hatcheries will systematically test larval response to changes in seawater chemistry by:
   1. Continuously monitoring seawater quality: pH, ORP, temperature, salinity and dissolved oxygen
   2. Monitoring water quality before and after each stage of seawater treatment to understand how each treatment step changes water properties
   3. Conducting simultaneous bioassays with oyster larvae to understand how changes in seawater quality affects larval survival
2. Monitor seawater quality in Willapa Bay, WA and Puget Sound, WA to better understand the complexities occurring within the environment: The information gathered will provide researchers with a standardized way to compare seawater properties in different estuaries. The datasets will ultimately be correlated with survival and growth rates of oyster larvae to determine those environmental parameters that largely affect oyster populations. The data to be gathered includes:
   1. Water chemistry (discrete samples - weekly): total alkalinity, total dissolved inorganic carbon, pCO2, pH, nutrient levels, trace elements
   2. Water chemistry (continuous - hourly): pH, temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, ORP
   3. Monitor for Vibrio (weekly): total bacteria present, total counts of Vibrio species, assay for presence of pathogenic vibrios
   4. Assess condition of broodstock (during spawning season - bi-weekly)
   5. Assess in situ larval performance vs. hatchery larvae (weekly)
   6. Monitor for harmful algal blooms (weekly)  
3. Genetic studies to identify resistant oyster broodstocks: Preliminary results indicate that some genetic strains of oysters may be more resistant to environmental stress than others. In 2008, a year of abnormally low oyster production, one specific batch of oyster larvae exhibited lower mortality and higher growth rates at Whiskey Creek Shellfish Hatchery. The more resilient batch of oysters were from a selective breeding program, the Molluscan Broodstock Program at Oregon State University. To identify other resilient broodstocks, PCSGA proposes to screen oyster families to isolate oyster stocks that are more resistant to adverse conditions. This project will be done in collaboration with OSU, USDA-ARS, and commercial hatcheries. In the future, oyster stocks that are genetically more resistant to stressful environmental conditions will be made available to hatcheries.
4. Develop a rapid assay for detection of Vibrio tubiashii: Vibrio tubiashii is a bacterium that can harm larval and juvenile oysters. Despite the substantial economic consequences for exposing developing oysters to Vibrio, a rapid assay for detection has not been developed. PCSGA proposes to develop an on-site, quantitative, rapid tool to detect Vibrio in seawater samples.