Managing Shellfish Disease, RISG Coastal and Ocean News
Managing Shellfish Disease
Rhode Island oyster populations are currently affected by four types of diseases that are mostly bacterial but also viral, said Dr. Marta Gómez-Chiarri, a professor at the University of Rhode Island, in her presentation on shellfish disease management at the Coastal State Seminar on March 28.
Gómez-Chiarri has been looking at shellfish disease in Rhode Island since 1998 when Dermo, a harmful parasite responsible for massive oyster mortality, was first discovered in Narragansett Bay.
“I’m mostly focused on the eastern oyster because it is major aquaculture species and is most affected by diseases,” she said in her presentation that highlighted her most recent research on potential methods for managing disease in both larval and adult oysters…