HARBOR BRANCH - OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE

NEW BREEDING PROJECT COULD EXPAND CLAM FARMING INDUSTRY

WHAT: HARBOR BRANCH aquaculture expert Dr. John Scarpa will give a public lecture titled: "Clam Strips and Oyster Po'Boys: Florida Aquaculture and the Environment."

HIGHLIGHTS: **The talk will include the first public discussion of a new HARBOR BRANCH clam breeding program that could dramatically enhance clam farming in parts of Florida where current production is severely hampered by environmental factors.

**Dr. Scarpa will also discuss work now underway to address the problem of poor health in oyster populations of the St. Lucie River Estuary and to develop techniques for minimizing the impact of freshwater releases from Lake Okeechobee on these animals.

DATE: February 11, 2004

TIMES: 4:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m., reception with speaker will follow each event

LOCATION: Main auditorium of the Johnson Education Center at HARBOR BRANCH Oceanographic Institution, 5600 U.S. 1 North, Fort Pierce, Florida

In just two decades, clam aquaculture has grown from relative economic insignificance in Florida, to an environmentally friendly industry worth tens of millions to the state's economy. For the next event in the HARBOR BRANCH Ocean Science Lecture Series, Dr. John Scarpa will give an overview of HARBOR BRANCH's involvement in the industry's growth from initial work training displaced commercial fishermen as clam farmers, to its current position as the largest provider of seed clams in the state.

A key highlight of the talk will be a discussion of a new HARBOR BRANCH clam research program funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Florida Sea Grant that has just gotten underway. The work is aimed at raising heartier clams capable of thriving in areas where they have so far done poorly, such as Southwest Florida.

The main problem in such areas is that clams often die before or just after they reach a harvestable size. Scientists believe this is because the clams are too weak to survive the summer's warm and stressful temperatures due to the energy they expend in the spring while spawning.

To avoid this problem, Dr. Scarpa and his colleagues are using a basic breeding technique known as triploidy, which has been used with plants, oysters, and other species, but has never before been commercially applied to clams. Triploidy involves manipulating clam eggs in the early stage of their development to interrupt the process of cell division that would normally lead to a splitting of each egg's genetic material. These treated eggs can be fertilized so that they grow into healthy clams, but the clams are incapable of reproduction because they simply have too much genetic material in their cells.

Currently Dr. Scarpa and his team are raising their first generation of triploid clams. In May 2004, some of these clams will be transferred to waters just north of Ft. Myers to discover how they will fare in harsh summer conditions. Later, similar experiments will be run off Cedar Key. The project grew directly out of requests for help from clam farmers, and if successful, could help spread the clam aquaculture industry even further in Florida and elsewhere.

During his talk, Dr. Scarpa will also discuss his past work and work now underway to address the problem of poor health in oyster populations of the St. Lucie River Estuary and to develop techniques for minimizing the impact of freshwater releases from Lake Okeechobee on these animals.

Dr. John Scarpa is the program manager for the Molluscan and Crustacean Research Programs and the director of research for HARBOR BRANCH's Aquaculture Division. His research focuses on the genetics, nutrition, and physiology of organisms raised in aquaculture systems. Current projects include clam breeding work, the development of techniques for raising aquatic species that produce pharmaceutical compounds, oyster disease resistance research, and examination of the environmental parameters necessary to culture saltwater shrimp in freshwater. He received his Ph.D. in Wildlife and Fisheries Science from Texas A&M University in 1989.

For more information, to arrange an interview, or to request photos or b-roll, please contact Mark Schrope at 772-216-0389 or schrope@hboi.edu.

Ocean Science Lecture Series 2004 Schedule - CLICK HERE for more information

January 14 - Shirley Pomponi - The Census of Marine Life: How Many Fish Are in the Sea?

January 21 - Ned Smith - The Indian River Lagoon System: Five Lagoons, Five Inlets, Five Sound Bites

January 28 - Mark & Diane Littler - Waterways & Byways of Indian River Lagoon

February 4 - Susan Sennett - Marine Chemical Ecology: Applications in Marine Drug Discovery

February 11 - John Scarpa - Clam Strips and Oyster Po'Boys: Florida Aquaculture and the Environment

February 18 - Greg Bossart - The Indian River Lagoon Bottlenose Dolphin Health Assessment Program: "Flipper" Gets an Overdue Physical Examination

February 25 - Tammy Frank - Do Fish See Color?

March 3 - Sarath Gunasekera - Search for Anti-cancer Drugs and Success Stories

March 10 - Ken Riley - Integrated Aquaculture Education: Food for Thought

March 17 - Brian Lapointe - Invasion of Green Tides

March 24 - Tracey Sutton - Predators of the Deep

HARBOR BRANCH Oceanographic Institution was founded in Ft. Pierce, Fla., in 1971 to support the exploration and conservation of the world's oceans. The institution has held to this mission and grown into one of the world's leading oceanographic institutions with a 500-acre campus, over 200 personnel, and a fleet of sophisticated research ships and submersibles.