Current Research: Stock Assessment
The VIMS Molluscan Ecology Program works in partnership with the Shellfish Management Division of the Virginia Marine Resources Commission to complete annual oyster stock assessment in support of fishery management. Historical surveys date back to the late 1940s and employed dredges to estimate numbers of oysters of market size (>3 inches), sub-market and young-of-the-year per bushel across the harvested reefs. Since the mid-1990s the collaborative effort has focused on stratified random sampling, which currently surveys over 220 reefs with hydraulic patent tongs. This survey provides quantitative (numbers per unit area) sampling that, with reef area, can be expanded to obtain a total stock estimate. In addition, surveys include quantitative estimates (volume per unit area) of the of underlying shell substrate, a descriptor of reef accretion rate and guide the need for shell replenishment to sustain recruitment in harvested areas.