Hubbs-Sea World Research Institute

ABSTRACT Transforming the way food is produced to address its widespread negative effects on habitats, biodiversity and climate change is emerging as a priority intervention for achieving global goals for sustainable and equitable development. If the negative effects of industry activity are mitigated, regenerative farming approaches offer an opportunity to shape reciprocal solutions that can reduce these impacts and provide food and nutritional outcomes alongside ecological benefits. We review the potential for bivalve aquaculture to contribute positively to blue carbon ecosystems, coastal and marine environments that are critical to ocean carbon cycling and storage (seagrasses, mangroves and tidal marshes) and other highly productive or depositional coastal ecosystems (macroalgae, tidal flats and marine sediment). We identify the negative effects of bivalve aquaculture that must be avoided and mitigated to ensure farming does not generate environmental greenhouse gas emissions and discuss the ecological processes bivalves in a farmed environment enhance that could enable the industry to positively support ocean carbon sequestration in these ecosystems. If designed and used with the benefits of carbon cycling and storage in mind, restorative bivalve aquaculture could be used to increase protection of these important ecosystems and mitigative efforts for climate change.

BackgroundThe innovations of the “Omics Era” have ushered in significant advancements in genetic improvement of agriculturally important animal species through transforming genetics, genomics and breeding strategies. These advancements were often coordinated, in part, by support provided over 30 years through the 1993–2023 National Research Support Project 8 (NRSP8, National Animal Genome Research Program, NAGRP) and affiliate projects focused on enabling genomic discoveries in livestock, poultry, and aquaculture species. These significant and parallel advances demand strategic planning of future research priorities. This paper, as an output from the May 2023 Aquaculture Genomics, Genetics, and Breeding Workshop, provides an updated status of genomic resources for United States aquaculture species, highlighting major achievements and emerging priorities.Main textFinfish and shellfish genome and omics resources enhance our understanding of genetic architecture and heritability of performance and production traits. The 2023 Workshop identified present aims for aquaculture genomics/omics research to build on this progress: (1) advancing reference genome assembly quality; (2) integrating multi-omics data to enhance analysis of production and performance traits; (3) developing resources for the collection and integration of phenomics data; (4) creating pathways for applying and integrating genomics information across animal industries; and (5) providing training, extension, and outreach to support the application of genome to phenome. Research focuses should emphasize phenomics data collection, artificial intelligence, identifying causative relationships between genotypes and phenotypes, establishing pathways to apply genomic information and tools across aquaculture industries, and an expansion of training programs for the next-generation workforce to facilitate integration of genomic sciences into aquaculture operations to enhance productivity, competitiveness, and sustainability.ConclusionThis collective vision of applying genomics to aquaculture breeding with focus on the highlighted priorities is intended to facilitate the continued advancement of the United States aquaculture genomics, genetics and breeding research community and industries. Critical challenges ahead include the practical application of genomic tools and analytical frameworks beyond academic and research communities that require collaborative partnerships between academia, government, and industry. The scope of this review encompasses the use of omics tools and applications in the study of aquatic animals cultivated for human consumption in aquaculture settings throughout their life-cycle.

Abstract Extant sirenians are the only aquatic herbivorous mammals and comprise four recognized species: the dugong, the Amazonian manatee, the West Indian manatee, and the African manatee. They inhabit coastal shallow waters in tropical and subtropical areas. All sirenian species produce sounds, many of which are audible to humans. These sounds range from tonal and narrowband to pulsed and broadband. Some of these vocalizations can be frequency-modulated and amplitude-modulated, ranging from 0.5 to at least 22 kHz in frequency and from <0.02 to ~1 s in duration. The variation in sound characteristics has enabled call type categorization into barks, chirps, clicks, quacks, squeaks, squeals, trills, whistles, etc., with gradation between classes. These calls are produced in different contexts, such as mother-calf interactions, territorial assertion, and reproductive behaviors. Sirenian vocalizations are also influenced by the surrounding environment, and their communication can be affected by human-produced noise (e.g., motorized vessels). Understanding the function of sirenian sounds in different social and ecological contexts might enhance the application of passive acoustic monitoring to the conservation and management of these endangered animals.

Abstract Objective California Yellowtail (CYT) Seriola dorsalis are continuous spawners and rely entirely on their diet to supply nutrients like fatty acids (FAs) to their eggs to support early development. The objective of this study was to determine whether commercial diets could replace a diet consisting of fresh fishery products (FFP-D) without compromising egg quality and biochemical composition, specifically FAs. Methods In 2017, one broodstock group (one female and two males) was fed a formulated reference feed (REF-D; Bio-Oregon). This pilot experiment showed that it was possible for a minimum of one female and two male broodfish to spawn repeatedly in a tank, a finding that led to a replicated diet experiment during 2018 in which 18 CYT broodfish were divided into six replicate tanks, with one female and two males per tank. Three tanks were fed the FFP-D as a control, and three tanks were fed a commercial diet (COM-D; Breed-M, INVE). For each spawning event, egg quality metrics were collected, along with samples for FA analysis. Result The 2017 REF-D treatment produced eggs that met arachidonic acid (ARA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) requirements and had egg metrics comparable to those obtained from the FFP-D, with higher viability and average batch fecundity. However, the REF-D treatment had insufficient docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and no tank replicates. The 2018 COM-D treatment produced eggs with large egg and oil diameters and met ARA and EPA requirements but was associated with very poor spawning and hatch success and had insufficient DHA levels. The FFP-D treatment produced below-average viability and batch fecundity rates and was unable to meet most essential FA requirements, but it yielded the greatest number of spawning events. Conclusion None of the experimental treatments, including the control, was able to fully meet the nutritional requirements of CYT broodstock. These results reveal crucial data about current CYT broodstock diets that can facilitate future research for developing nutritionally complete diets, especially in terms of essential FAs.

Esophageal and pharyngeal obstruction are commonly reported in marine mammals, but asphyxiation from blowhole and nasal cavity obstruction has been reported only rarely: in two long-finned pilot whales (Globicephala melas), several harbor porpoises (Phocoena phocoena), and one common bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus). We describe two cases of blowhole obstruction and subsequent asphyxiation in bottlenose dolphins caused by eels. A whip eel (Bascanichthys scuticaris) was found obstructing the blowhole of a deceased dolphin from the Indian River Lagoon, Florida, US (2011) and a shrimp eel (Ophichthus gomesii) was found obstructing the blowhole of a deceased dolphin from Tampa Bay, Florida (2020). Normally, the respiratory and digestive tracts of cetaceans do not communicate. Consuming large or oddly shaped prey can result in laryngeal displacement and subsequent interaction between the two systems. It is likely the eels entered the oral cavity while the dolphins were consuming or playing with prey, and laryngeal displacement enabled the eels to slither into and become stuck in the nasal passage, causing asphyxiation. These novel findings underscore the importance of continued investigation into causes of mortality in stranded marine mammals and can contribute to the knowledge of feeding ecology in bottlenose dolphins. As changing environmental conditions contribute to shifts in prey availability and abundance, mortality due to prey-related asphyxiation could become more common in odontocetes.