PRODUCTS & SERVICES

Ferry Cove currently produces Eastern Oyster (Crassostrea virginica) larvae and seed using wild-caught broodstock, tetraploids, and disease resistant/selected lines from VIMS. Ferry Cove also offers same day spat counting services. For more information on products and pricing, please call 410-886-1006 or download the order form below. Completed forms and questions may be directed to orders@ferrycove.org.

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Hatchery Products

Ferry Cove Oyster Hatchery offers diploid and triploid varieties of single oyster seed set on fine cultch and eyed larvae.  Our goal is to provide our customers with sorted and screened healthy seed ready for nurseries and high-quality, eyed larvae for remote and in-situ setting that are ready to set immediately upon pickup or receipt.

Product Availability and Ordering

Orders are produced on a first come first served basis.  Our goal is to have seed available year-round and eyed larvae from March through September. We recommend all orders be placed by February to ensure your order has been incorporated into the hatchery production schedule.  You can order online, download the order form and mail it to us, or place an order via phone.  Once your order is received, you will be notified regularly of the status.  No deposits are required. 

Broodstock

We offer customers a selection and mixture of broodstock to suit the needs of your grow-out site and salinity conditions.

VIMS Tetraploid Stock

Annually, we receive tetraploids from VIMS Aquaculture Genetics and Breeding Technology Center.  We will cross these with wild stocks or other VIMS Disease Resistant selected lines for triploid larvae and seed production. Triploids typically grow faster and have better meat quality during the summer months.

VIMS Disease Resistant (DR) Selected Lines

  • DEBY - Originates from Delaware Bay stock with high resistance to MSX and bred for additional resistance to DERMO.  Selected in moderate salinity environments (18-23 ppt) for fast growth and survival.
  • HNRY - Combined genes from wild populations and all ABC genetic stocks, selected in moderate salinity environments (18-23 ppt) for fast growth, survival, high meat yield and shell shape.
  • LOLA - Originates from Louisiana stock, low to moderate resistance to Dermo, selected in low salinity environments (8-15 ppt) for growth; anecdotally they are also grown outside of low salinity environments.
  • LILY - Combined genes from wild populations and all ABC genetic stocks, selected in low salinity environments (6-15 ppt) for fast growth, survival, high meat yield and shell shape.

Wild Stock 

  • We use wild caught oysters from moderate salinity Chesapeake Bay tributaries, such as the Nanticoke, Choptank and Patuxent River and Eastern Bay. The oysters are purchased annually from local watermen and then stored and conditioned in our facility.  All the oysters from these rivers and the Bay have shown some disease tolerance and robust shell growth.

Custom Spawns

  • Custom spawns are available with advance notice and may require a deposit. Please call for additional information.

Services

Ferry Cove Shellfish is an approved spat verification facility by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. We offer spat counting, size determination, and health assessments for a single fee of $2.00 per shell as a same-day service. Ferry Cove will only be repsonsible for the spat count and supporting calculations; customer needs to provide shell and bushel count numbers. For counting services customers should call one day prior to schedule a counting appointment. For same day counts, samples must be delivered to the Hatchery by noon. Ferry Cove will not hold shells past the day of counting.

Our Facility

Ferry Cove Oyster Hatchery has incorporated several systems to enhance its capabilities and consistency to produce high-quality larvae and seed.



Algae

Ferry Cove is using Industrial Plankton Photobioreactors (PBR) as its primary source of algal production. These systems provide the hatchery a consistent, reliable, high-density approach to algal production. These systems require a smaller footprint to operate but also lower the long-term cost of algal production. In addition to the PBR's, the hatchery has developed an automized control system to harvest designated volumes of up to seven species of algae and deliver to any predesignated system in the hatchery at any time.



Salinity Adjustment & Artificial Seawater Manufacturing

Using a brine mix dosing system, salinity levels within the hatchery can be increased when local Chesapeake Bay water salinity levels are low and would otherwise negatively affect production due to local rain events or larger regional freshwater inputs. The system also enables the hatchery to produce a higher salinity oyster for growers along the Atlantic coastline. Should the Bay water quality decrease even further, the hatchery has the ability to convert to a recirculating aquaculture system (RAS). The hatchery can create its own artificial seawater allowing the hatchery to shut down the intake system and still operate during times when there are harmful algal blooms (HABs) or other environmental events arise that could negatively impact or shut down production.



Biosecurity Systems

Ferry Cove was designed with the intent of reaching appropriate filtration compliance levels and is currently in the process of being fully certified as part of the Regional Shellfish Seed Biosecurity Program.



pH Modification

Coastal acidification is becoming an increasing concern of hatcheries, including those in the Chesapeake Bay region. Excess nutrient runoff and freshwater inputs can cause mass algal blooms and as they perish, release carbon dioxide into the water altering the water chemistry. Ferry Cove's pH dosing system will ensure that the larvae can utilize the necessary elements for producing their shells, which is critical for survival.

Gallery

Brood Stock Conditioning Room Adult broodstock oysters are collected from the wild or are specifically bred strains produced by breeding programs. We hold them in automated temperature control tanks where they are fed a precise algae diet as they are conditioned for spawning.
Brood Stock Conditioning Room
 Egg Hatching Once the oysters spawn, they are placed into one of two 5,000 gallon egg hatchings tanks (on left). The fertilized eggs will hatch over the next several days.
Egg Hatching
 D-Hinge Larvae D-hinge oyster larvae two days after hatching. It will take larvae about 14 days for the larvae to grow to the eyed larvae stage when it’s ready to set.
D-Hinge Larvae
 Larvae Grow Out Post spawning and hatching of the eggs, the young larvae are transferred to our flow-through high density larval tanks where they will spend the next few weeks grazing on algae as they grow. Larval health is constantly monitored, and systems are adjusted to ensure only the highest-quality larvae are set for seed or spat on shell.
Larvae Grow Out
 Algae Flask Room Up to eight different species are kept in the flask room at any one time. They are used as starter stocks to inoculate the algae photobioreactors when they are first started.
Algae Flask Room
 Algae Photobioreactors Industrial Plankton Photobioreactors are our primary source of algal production for the facility. These high-tech systems give us the capability to continuously produce high density algae in a sterile environment.
Algae Photobioreactors

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Ferry cove shellfish

410-886-1006
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Ferry Cove Shellfish Inc.

21770 Lowes Wharf Road

Sherwood, MD 21665

©2024 Ferry Cove Shellfish, Inc. A 501(c)3 non-profit organization.