6 results

Commercial production trial with high POMS tolerant triploid Pacific Oysters in approved NSW estuaries.

Project number: 2018-164
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $70,000.00
Principal Investigator: Matt Cunningham
Organisation: Australian Seafood Industries Pty Ltd (ASI)
Project start/end date: 28 Feb 2019 - 29 Apr 2020
Contact:
FRDC
TAGS
Reproduction
Rac Nsw
Disease
Biosecurity
Aquaculture
SPECIES
Pacific Oyster

Need

This project offers significant opportunity to accelerate the Australian Pacific Oyster industry to grow in production and value.

The NSW Pacific Oyster producers, especially those in POMS affect areas require both POMS resistant oysters that have all the benefits demonstrated through the ASI breeding program, and due to local regulatory requirements, and ease of management - triploid Pacific Oysters. Triploid oysters have an additional set of chromosomes (Triploid 3n vs Diploid 2n), and this provides for increased growth and better condition for extended periods compared with diploids that lose condition through reproductive activities including spawning. Triploid oysters are an important part of the broader Australian Industry, with producers incorporating them in production to ensure year round supply, especially in warmer climates such as NSW and SA where reproductive activity is enhanced.

Utilising the framework for research and development outlined below:

i) Proof of concept
ii) Proof of product
iii) Proof of markets
iv) Commercialisation

This project builds upon the the proof of concept that ASI selectively breed lines have enhanced resilience to POMS, this project addresses the second stage - Proof of product, delivering ASI breeding into a triploid product.

Objectives

1. Determine if POMS resistant triploid ASI oysters can improve the commercial viability of POMS affected NSW oyster farms, especially the Hawkesbury River.
2. Develop with ASI/CSIRO a recording and reporting format to assess the performance of triploid POMS resistant ASI Pacific Oyster spat cultured in the Hawkesbury River under commercial growing conditions.
3. Data collected from farms will determine performance and survival of predicted high POMS resistant triploid ASI Pacific Oysters cultured in POMS affected NSW oyster farms.
4. Develop protocols to test/sample for OsHV-u1, that are incorporated into regular assessment processes, to ensure that results can be reflected against a known challenge to POMS.

Final report

Authors: Matthew Cunningham Steven Jones John Wright
Final Report • 2021-03-01 • 498.59 KB
2018-164-DLD.pdf

Summary

This report details a collaborative "proof of concept" project undertaken to investigate the opportunity to reinvigorate the triploid Pacific oyster farming industry in NSW estuaries affected by Pacific Oyster Mortality Syndrome (POMS). The participating organisations were Australian Seafood Industries (ASI), Cameron of Tasmania and oyster growers in the Hawkesbury and Georges Rivers. The major objective of the project was to explore the potential for incorporating POMS resistance into triploid oysters with the latest ASI genetics to allow assessment of the performance of highly POMS resistant triploid Pacific oyster spat in these oyster farming locations.
 
Despite the impacts of a severe flood event, the project provided useful outcomes for the growers in POMS affected NSW growing regions. The participating growers have indicated Pacific oyster farming would be viable with the observed POMS survival rates.
Adoption
PROJECT NUMBER • 2017-233
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Future Oysters CRC-P Communication and Adoption

The Future Oysters CRC-P project (CRC-P 2016-553805; Future Oysters) was funded by the Australian Government’s Business Cooperative Research Centres (CRC) Program, which is managed by the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science (DIIS). The Future Oysters CRC-P project was developed to...
ORGANISATION:
Australian Seafood Industries Pty Ltd (ASI)
TAGS
Mortality
Market Opportunities
Innovation
Disease
Communications
SPECIES
Sydney Rock Oyster
Native Oyster
Pacific Oyster

Future oysters CRC-P: Enhancing Pacific Oyster breeding to optimise national benefits

Project number: 2016-801
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $1,972,777.00
Principal Investigator: Matt Cunningham
Organisation: Australian Seafood Industries Pty Ltd (ASI)
Project start/end date: 19 Jan 2017 - 30 Aug 2019
Contact:
FRDC
TAGS
Mortality
Husbandry
Genomics
Disease
Broodstock
SPECIES
Pacific Oyster

Need

The introduction of POMS to Tasmania has resulted in an increased requirement for POMS resistant oysters nationally. The Tasmanian industry has an urgent requirement to allow the industry to rebuild towards sustainability for those areas currently affected by the disease and for protection for those areas which are currently free from it. The South Australian industry, whist free from the disease at this point, also requires POMS resistant oysters so that it can hopefully avoid the crippling losses suffered in Tasmania by having resistant oysters stocked onto their farms prior to any potential outbreaks. New South Wales like Tasmania has areas that have been affected and areas that are free from POMS. Biosecurity restrictions as a result of POMS incursions have added an extra layer of complexity to ensuring that the benefits of the selective breeding program are achieved nationally. As a result there is a requirement for further research to adapt the breeding program to the new paradigm of POMS in Tasmania and permit the industry to recover and be protected from the threat of further expansion of POMS into new areas.

Objectives

1. Design and implement a selective breeding strategy for ASI that meets the immediate and medium term (5 year) needs of the national Pacific Oyster industry.
2. Identify Biosecurity constraints to the movement of ASI stock and develop a strategy to permit optimal flow of benefits across the national industry
3. Review, document and communicate protocols and procedures for the use of OsHV-1 exposed broodstock by hatcheries and the transfer of resulting progeny compliant with State regulations.
4. Redefine the protocols for the laboratory family spat challenge model to improve the predictability of field survival, with the goal of a 70% correlation between the laboratory and field tests and to extend the application of the challenge model to include challenges to larvae.
5. Develop a system, supported by general purpose algorithms that will allow ASI to routinely benchmark the estimated breeding values of ASI POMS resistant families against commercial performance of hatchery stock of known pedigree after exposure to OsHV-1 at different life stages.
6. Document and implement strategy to allow use, within the breeding program, of male and female broodstock at 1 year
7. Develop and verify an SNP based genetic test that can discriminate ASI oysters from non-ASI oysters and to identify oysters to family and implement a plan for this test to be commercially available to stakeholders

Final report

ISBN: 978-0-646-81759-0
Authors: Matthew Cunningham Peter Kube Andrew Trotter Xiaoxu Li Peter Kirkland Nick Robinson Greg Smith and Chris Carter
Final Report • 2020-03-01 • 2.27 MB
2016-801-DLD.pdf

Summary

The research was conducted as a direct consequence of the 2016 Pacific Oyster Mortality Syndrome (POMS) outbreak TAS which decimated parts of this State’s Pacific Oyster (Crassostrea gigas) industry and caused numerous flow on effects throughout the entire Australian industry. The project was aimed to allow continuation and improvement of the work that had been undertaken prior to the 2016 outbreak, which was not only a major disruptor to the industry but also the breeding program. New techniques needed to be established to allow continued breeding in TAS in the new POMS paradigm and operations were required to be established in SA due to the biosecurity restrictions brought about by the TAS outbreak. Aspects of the project also looked to increase the rate of genetic gains for POMS resistance by developing additional supporting technologies.
The project was conducted across multiple areas that reflected the objectives of the project. Researchers worked collaboratively to conduct research across breeding strategy development, capacity building in SA, genetic improvement, laboratory and field challenges, accelerated maturation and developing an identification tool.
Industry
PROJECT NUMBER • 2016-800
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Future Oysters CRC-P Management and Extension

The Future Oysters CRC-P project (CRC-P 2016-553805; Future Oysters) was funded by the Australian Government’s Business Cooperative Research Centres (CRC) Program, which is managed by the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science (DIIS). The Future Oysters CRC-P project was developed to...
ORGANISATION:
Australian Seafood Industries Pty Ltd (ASI)
TAGS
Mortality
Disease
Aquaculture
SPECIES
Sydney Rock Oyster
Native Oyster
Pacific Oyster

Oysters Australia IPA: Pacific Oyster Mortality Syndrome - resistant Oyster breeding for a sustainable Pacific Oyster Industry in Australia

Project number: 2015-239
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $984,455.00
Principal Investigator: Len Stephens
Organisation: Australian Seafood Industries Pty Ltd (ASI)
Project start/end date: 11 May 2016 - 24 Aug 2017
Contact:
FRDC
TAGS
Biosecurity
SPECIES
Pacific Oyster

Need

The most effective approach to mitigate POMS is to breed oysters that are genetically resistant to it.Australian Seafood Industries Pty Ltd (ASI), a company owned by the oyster industry and established for the sole purpose of breeding oysters has commenced work to produce a POMS resistant Pacific Oyster. Excellent progress was achieved so that when R&D funding from the The Seafood Seafood CRC ceased in 2014, all state industry bodies agreed to implement a levy based on oyster spat sales to continue the research. The objective of genetic selection for POMS resistance is to identify oyster families that survive natural infection and can then be used for future breeding. In conjunction with industry, ASI set the standard for POMS resistance at “70% of individuals in an oyster family surviving a POMS challenge as 1 year old animals”. The research has progressed well and it was expected to make the first commercial supply of POMS resistant broodstock that meet this standard in 2018. This progress has been interrupted by the outbreak of POMS.

The occurrence of POMS in Tasmania and the consequential quarantine and control procedures implemented between States to limit spread of the disease means that sale of normal oyster spat will be minimal for the foreseeable future. Ensuring the fast tracking of ASI's breeding program for improved genetic progress and commercial supply was assessed as the top priority for industry in the recently released report "A National Industry Response to Pacific Oyster Mortality Syndrome (POMS)" authored by Jan Davis for Oysters Australia (FRDC project 2015-406).

Objectives

1. To achieve genetic gains in POMS resistance in the ASI population by 14% per year
2. To commercialise the most resistant ASI families to improve commercial viability of Pacific Oyster growers in Australia. Broodstock with a predicted survival as 1 year old animals of 80% commercially available by the end of the project
3. Support industry peak bodies in their consideration of mechanisms for emergency response arrangements.

Final report

Author: Matthew Cunningham
Final Report • 2022-10-01 • 1.05 MB
2015-239-DLD.pdf

Summary

This report describes selective breeding research and extension conducted by Australian Seafood Industries Pty Ltd (ASI) to assist the Pacific Oyster industry’s recovery from an outbreak of Pacific Oyster Mortality Syndrome (POMS) in Tasmania in 2016. The report also describes research to produce POMS resistant oysters in South Australia, in the absence of widespread disease in that state.
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