New Jersey Shellfish Aquaculture Situation & Outlook Report (New!)

New Jersey has a well-established hard clam (Mercenaria mercenaria) aquaculture industry originating in the 1970s. Extensive aquaculture of the eastern oyster, Crassostrea virginica involving bottom planting of shell and wild stocks dates back to the 1800s, but this practice was largely abandoned due to the onset of oyster disease in the late 1950s and presently accounts for only a small percentage of New Jersey’s oyster harvests. Since 1997, oyster culture based on the planting of disease resistant hatchery-reared seed has steadily increased with farms developing in the Delaware Bay and Atlantic coastal bays. In 2012, the Haskin Shellfish Research Laboratory, Rutgers University and New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium began an annual survey program aimed at capturing the status and trends associated with shellfish aquaculture in New Jersey. The survey is modeled after a successful program conducted by the Virginia Institute of Marine Science. This report represents the fifth survey year.

To view the full report, please click here.