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The Kauffman Aquaculture Center (KAC) lies 30 miles north of VIMS' main campus on a tributary of the Rappahanock River known as Locklies Creek.

The Kauffman Center was specifically designed to enhance and extend the work and facilities of VIMS' Aquaculture Genetics and Breeding Technology Center (ABC). ABC was established by the Virginia General Assembly in 1997 to explore and promote the development of aquaculture in the Commonwealth.

The Kauffman Center significantly expands the scope of aquaculture research at VIMS by providing a facility that was specifically designed to hold both native and non-native species in quarantine. Initial use of the facility will focus on studies of the native oyster Crassostrea virginica and the non-native oyster C. ariakensis.

Stocks of native oysters in Chesapeake Bay have declined to the lowest point in history due to many years of overfishing and disease. The National Academy of Sciences recently recommended that work with non-natives be pursued carefully using triploid, sterile varieties. VIMS has developed the technology to enable this recommendation, and, through the facilities available at KAC, expand the scope of this activity.

The Kauffman Center features four separate laboratories that were each purpose-built to protect Chesapeake Bay and its living resources from disease, parasites, and the unintentional introduction of non-natives. To read more about these laboratories, click here.

Construction of the $1.4 million Center was funded through a challenge grant by Boots and Jack Kauffman, with matching grants provided by Mr. Matthew T. Blackwood; the D. Keith Campbell Foundation for the Environment, Inc.; Mr. and Mrs. Weston F. Conley, Jr. and Family; Dominion; Mr. and Mrs. John P.D. Kauffman; The Elis Olsson Memorial Foundation; Mr. and Mrs. E. Claiborne Robins, Jr.; Mr. and Mrs. James E. Rogers; and the Smurfit-Stone Container Corporation.

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