MBP Growout Sites

Once Oyster spat are retained on a 6.4 mm sieve, they are ready to be planted out in the field. Typically, 280 spat are randomly collected from each oyster family and divided into eight replicate bags of 35 oysters each. These replicate bags are then planted out at commercial growout sites provided by industry partners. Ideally each cohort would be planted out at a minimum of two sites, one in a deep-water environment employing suspension culture and one in an intertidal environment.

MBP has evaluated oyster family performance in a range of growing environments. We have planted MBP families as far south as Tomales Bay in California and as far north as Prince William Sound in Alaska. Growout sites used by MBP are: