ITS THE WATER

From more than *** feet deep in Resurrection Bay seawater is pumped to the nursery pond and the hatchery where it is treated and used.

Nursery pond

The Hatchery

The nursery pond is managed to produce algae as feed for holding young shellfish seed produced by the hatchery. The seed is then sold for shellfish farmers.

Water to the hatchery is treated and put to use for a number of purposes. A complex system of pipes and hoses deliver treated water to the tanks.

ITS THE WATER

Filtration Sterilizatio n

Water used in the hatchery must first be cleaning by this dual set of filters that Remove particles down to 10 m.

Filtered water is sterilized with this ultraviolet light unit to kill bacteria, fungi and viruses that can harm or compete with the algae and delicate shellfish larva.

Heating

Boiler

Heat exchanger

The saltwater from deep in Resurrection Bay remains at a nearly consistent temperature of 5 degrees centigrade. This diesel boiler and heat exchanger heat the water to *** necessary for conditioning of broodstock, algae culture, and shellfish larva rearing.

A SHELLFISH HATCHERY
Mimicking Nature
Growing the food

Growing live algae to feed the shellfish is a complex expensive process.

The Broodstock

Each of the 8 species of algae is grown separately, but mixed with other algae species before Feeding,to provide a balanced diet.

Sexually mature adults, called Broodstock, are conditioned with warm water and lots of food to produce and spawn eggs and sperm into the water.

These oyster broodstock, like most shellfish, can be conditioned to spawn at any time of year.

GROWING LARVA
These tall 16, 000 liter (4,227 gallon) can rear 40 million microscopic shellfish larva each for the three weeks required form them to develop into their adult life form
The microscopic D veliger larva develops after the shellfish egg hatches

Picture of filtering larva

Every three days during the two weeks of larva rearing the tank is drained, the larva filtered out, and put back into A clean tanks of sterilized sea water and algae feed

Three weeks later the umbo veliger stage larva are ready to settle to the bottom and transform into their adult life form.

Tank filled with millions of larva and live algae feed

TRANSFORMING TO A SPAT
Downweller/upweller tanks

At the proper size, the shellfish larva are transferred to these smaller tanks with water is first downwelled (flowing from the surface through the screened bottom, the larva set and form their adult live phase, then the water is upwelled (flowing in the reverse direction. ) and provided food for further growth.

Downweller with thousands of shellfish spat, now termed seed.

After food is supplied and in the upweller, the seed are grown to about 2-3 mm in length then placed in the nursery pond or sold to farmers

THE SEED

Cockle

Geoduck clam
Oysters

Purple hinge rock scallop

Littleneck clam

Effluent treatment Pacific oyster

All water returned to Resurrection Bay is sterilized to protect the Bay from any biological pollution That hatchery could produce.