The Mississippi Department of Marine Resources (MDMR) is set to begin spawning oysters using a mobile hatchery as part of a program run in partnership with the University of Southern Mississippi's (USM) Thad Cochran Marine Aquaculture Center (TCMAC).

“USM is happy to work with MDMR and the state to create new opportunities in the seafood industry to ensure that the legacy of the seafood industry on the coast lives on in posterity,” TMAC Director Reginald Blaylock said in a statement.

MDMR and TCMAC jointly operate the Aquaculture Advanced Seed Production Training Program, which provides 100 hours of free hatchery training for oyster farmers and other aquaculture professionals in Mississippi. According to MDMR, the program is designed to help develop “skills in water quality management, broodstock conditioning, larval care, seed production, and hatchery operations.” This year’s cohort has completed classroom instruction as well as operations-based learning on the TCMAC campus.

On 12 July, the 2025 participants will move onto the next phase of the program, which involves shifting into full production mode and spawning oysters using a mobile hatchery.

“This partnership with USM is a major step forward in supporting and strengthening Mississippi’s oyster industry,” MDMR Executive Director Joe Spraggins said in a release. “Entering this next phase with the mobile hatchery will help participants build on the long-term success of the program and helps ensure a more sustainable future for the seafood industry.”

Participants will also conduct a second spawning event in September.

The program is designed to support Mississippi’s goal of rebuilding local oyster hatchery capacity following the 2020 Bonnet Carré Spillway disaster, when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers opened up the spillway twice to alleviate overflow along the Mississippi River. The action diverted a surge of floodwater into the ocean, but the sudden influx of freshwater into the Gulf shocked shellfish populations. Mississippi’s oyster fishery was devastated and remained closed until late last year, when state regulators determined it was ready to reopen for a brief season.

“We’ve done a lot of work since about 2020. I think we’ve planted about 600 acres of cultch,” MDMR Chief Scientific Officer Rick Burris told local news WLOX. “We’ve worked hard to get it back. We’re not where we want to be, but we’ve gotten to a point where we thought we could open up some of these small seasons to get these guys back out there fishing, get some oysters off the reef, and get some Mississippi oysters on the market.”

Source - https://www.seafoodsource.com