Asian Oysters??

[magicdog39]

I know this is off the crab topic but I have a question for all of you. I saw a blip on the TV about the Maryland DNR plan to introduce asian oysters to the Bay. In your opinion is this a good thing? Will it help the Bay oyster bars out? Will these Asian oysters exist next to our local oysters or will one push the other out of existance? The biggest question is, will the Asian oyster be as good to eat as our native Bay Oysters? Crabs are the best but I love eating my oysters this time of year too.

[fisheyed]

The person to talk to about this would be procrabber but I will give it a shot with as much as I know.
Many different asian oysters are being considered based on their resistance to diseases found in the bay as well as their growth rates and taste.  So far a good candidate has been found but it is smaller and not quite as tasty.  It will most likely take over our native species.  One of the big worries is that with the introduction of the oyster we will be introducing other pathogens into the bay that may affect other local populations(crab, fish, ect.) These pathogens are often found on the shell.  Bottom line is that no oyster will be perfect but we neet to lie in the bed we made so to speak.  The bay will continue to decline unless we take steps to improve it.  One of these is to increase the amound of filters the bay has i.e. the oyster.  People are doing research on these oysters to determine what genes they have that make them resistant to diseases indigenous to the bay.  Ideally we could mage a hybrid type oyster that was resistant, fast growing, and tasty. As to the femaile debate I do think they taste different not necessarilly worse.  I like male claw meat much better not sure why.  females for me are a little harder to pick.  I have kept females and will continue to do so. I like large full crabs bottom line.  Remember the ecosystem is about balance can't have females without the males, also good genes lead to better stocks. Mostly I think we have become accustomed to what we grow up with so someone who has eaten only males their whole life has a preconceeved notion of what a crab should smell, look, and taste like, anyhting different is deemed "worse" most of the time.  Packing house buy what's cheap bot better or worse.  It is cheap becasue of the markets demand not necessarily taste.  As said before go to an asian market and see what is for sale or higher in price. Mor F

[Seaweed]

Procrabber does have some interesting thoughts on this... I got most of it from him early one morning :sleeping:Just kidding Mark!

You mention the idea of the Ariakensis "pushing out" the native oysters.... some people would say "what native oysters?"  Most have been killed by disease.  Steps are being taken to try to re-grow beds, but from what I hear, the success of that effort has been fairly limited.  I personally haven't taken a side either way yet, but I may be leaning towards "bring them in."

[Crabbyd]

Outdoors Maryland did a complete 30 minute show on this last night on PBS.  It will re-air on Saturday afternoon.

[procrabber]

here is an article I wrote some time ago for the watermens gazette.  Gives you the lowdown on dermo, one of the two major diseases in the bay oyster... give seaweed the scholar something to fall asleep to tonight   

http://www.procrabber.com/article1.htm

I support the introduction of ariakensis (asian oyster).  the asian oyster does get dermo, but grows to market size before it dies from the disease.  the fear that one species will win over the other is unlikely since the native oyster uses the asian oyster as substrate for spat.  Therefore the more asian oyster there is out there, the more space for the native oyster to live.  this is true on the west coast oyster bars where non-native oysters were introduced.  there the native and foreign species live together just fine.

[fisheyed]

great article Mark, it was put in easy o understand terms.  I can't imagine the number of hours that are spent on finding and testing all of the variable that must be considered to make this a viable project.  I noticed that you mentioned genetic enginering, what are the draybacks or limitations to this method?

[Black Irish]

I heard recently that there are some beds of native oysters in a sanctuary (Virginia?) that have developed into a dermo-resistant strain. Just goes to show that if given enough time, natural selection will take care of the dermo and msx problem. I am still on the fence about introducing non-native oysters into the bay...history has proven that new problems and new diseases are introduced accidentally into the ecosystem when a non-native plant or animal is introduced.

[Seaweed]

There is a an article in the latest MWA Gazette on the James River oysters... they're reporting that as much as 90% of the total oysters in the lower James catch from the previous month came up dead this month

The oystermen are asking for some beds in the Rappahanock to be opened that have been closed for 20 years.

[R D]

...history has proven that new problems and new diseases are introduced accidentally into the ecosystem when a non-native plant or animal is introduced.

You are right about that B.I., Fla. has more problems from invasive non native plants and animals than anywhere and non of it good, although one of the local girls did kill a Elk not to far from here,excapee off one of the ranches

[procrabber]

I heard recently that there are some beds of native oysters in a sanctuary (Virginia?) that have developed into a dermo-resistant strain.

do you remeber where you saw this from?  if there is no dermo in these oysters, i would doubt it is from genetic mutation of the oyster, but it is certainly possible.

possible deliberate genetic mutations would be to knock out receptors on the oysters that dermo uses to get into the oyster cells.  this may have some effect on the oyster, but overall beneficial to oyster survival.  this is similar concept to the delta 32 mutations in some humans that do not get HIV infections. 

introducing asian oysters will not bring new diseases, since we can breed them in the lab in disease free environment.  the threat is that the asian oysters get the same diseases while in the environment, then give it back to the native oyster.

as far as the asian oyster taking over, i dont think that will happen.  besides, they are big and very tasty.  it is kind of like introducing a bunch of hot girls into your local bar, they may take over... but who is going to complain?

[Fat Jimmy]

http://www.dailypress.com/news/dp-91417sy0nov29,0,2849786.story

There's a little about it in this article.

Here's another one about the Asian oysters:

http://www.wtopnews.com/index.php?nid=25&sid=804352

[Black Irish]

do you remeber where you saw this from?  if there is no dermo in these oysters, i would doubt it is from genetic mutation of the oyster, but it is certainly possible.

See FJ's link above from the Daily Press. Thanks FJ.

[captainmuscles]

Bring on the asian oyster.  Bring back the seed program that worked fine for fifty years.  Stop spending money on "research."  Anything that naturally filters the water plus provides habitat for crabs and fish sounds good to me.

[bluecrab]

Check for lead paint

Great article

~blue~