Oyster Oversight Committee

The Codes of Virginia mandate that VIMS provide impartial scientific advice to the Virginia Marine Resources Commission (VMRC), the regulatory body for all decisions concerning non-native species in Virginia waters. VIMS supported the Virginia Seafood Council's 2003 request to VMRC for a commercial-scale test of the non-native oyster Crassostrea ariakensis, based on its adherence to VIMS' published set of objective biosecurity guidelines. However, VIMS cannot be viewed as an entirely independent body during the VSC field trials because the Aquaculture Genetics and Breeding Technology Center (ABC) at VIMS will be supplying the sterile non-native oysters that VSC will use in its study. VIMS has formed an independent oversight committee in recognition of this fact.

Committee members include Dr. Kevin Sellner of the Chesapeake Research Consortium and Dr. Robert Whitlatch of the University of Connecticut. The members of the oversight committee will have access to all aspects of the project from initial hatchery production to field grow-out operations, with periodic review visits to both the oyster hatchery at the VIMS Gloucester Point campus and to the VSC field grow-out sites.