Aquaculture Recovery in Shizugawa Bay, Japan: Post Tsunami Recovery

This report outlines a study undertaken at Minamisanriku, a small coastal village on the East Coast of Honshu, Japan, in late 2018. The area relies heavily on fisheries and aquaculture for economic stability. While there, scientists, community leaders and individuals involved in the fisheries and aquaculture industry were interviewed to gain a qualitative understanding of the impacts of the 2011 tsunami caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake, particularly on the oyster industry and aquaculture in general in the region. The tsunami completely disrupted aquaculture operations, with a 93% loss of infrastructure. Consequently, stakeholders were presented with an opportunity to restructure in some way as they rebuilt the industry. The resulting 66% reduction in some species densities within aquaculture lots has subsequently led to increased sustainability and increased product quality. Those gains, paired with reduced material cost and efforts, have together resulted in a more socio-ecologically responsible aquaculture operation. This operation now generates at least same amount of revenue as pre-tsunami.

A Nice Dish for a Bad Time

This chapter explores the long arc of the modern oyster pie from its origins in 16th-century England to its place as a fallback mainstay of the Eastern Shore of Virginia diet. Through storytelling, oral history, documentary evidence, and recipes, it places oyster pie in the heyday of the oyster industry and the multitude of oyster recipes from the turn of the 20th century, many published in cookbooks and newspaper columns. The challenge embedded in pursuit of oyster pie is in negotiating the balance between those that were “ordinary” and those that were “precious.” With the archaeology of oyster pie sorted and recipes collected, the chapter turns to the creative work of contemporary chefs related to cuisine and terroir.

Production and Performance of Triploid Oysters for Aquaculture

This 9-page fact sheet written by Huiping Yang, Natalie Simon, and Leslie Sturmer and published by the Program in Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences of the UF/IFAS School of Forest Resources and Conservation focused on basic aspects of triploid oyster aquaculture, including the general oyster aquaculture industry, the approaches for triploid induction, performance of triploids, and correlated ploidy determination to convey basic knowledge of triploid oyster aquaculture to the oyster industry and the general public. http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/fa208