Dr Cheryl Jenkins, NSWDPI Principal Research Scientist, said the Australian Research Council Linkage funding brings together scientists and the NSW Department of Primary Industries in a $1 million funding boost to investigate the causes of oyster disease outbreaks in NSW.

“Oyster farming is a huge contributor to the Australian aquaculture industry, representing 30 per cent of all seafood production and worth approximately $100 million to the country’s economy each year, $42 million in NSW alone,” Dr Jenkins said.

“However, the fragile nature of these molluscs means they’re more susceptible to unpredictable and often devastating disease outbreaks.

“Our research is aimed at investigating the catalysts for disease outbreaks that have the potential to threaten livelihoods in these predominantly family-owned industries.

“It remains unclear as to what conditions lead to oyster disease, however environmental stresses such as rainfall, high temperatures and algal blooms are key catalysts.”

Dr Jenkins is working alongside NSWDPI oyster biologist Dr Wayne O’Connor, Associate Professor Justin Seymour and Dr Maurizio Labbate from the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), and microbial ecologist Dr Mark Brown from the University of NSW (UNSW) to collaborate to identify the main ecological drivers of NSW oyster disease outbreaks.

“We will be using new tools to highlight connections in the data for a better understanding of the relationships between oysters, disease and the environment,” Dr Jenkins said.

Pacific oysters, the dominant species harvested in Australia and highly susceptible to Pacific Oyster Mortality Syndrome (POMS), will be placed in the Georges River, where oyster disease events have repeatedly occurred, and in Port Stephens, which has remained POMS-free.  By taking advantage of our existing NSW DPI research activities, the project will measure temporal patterns in the two estuaries.

Researchers hope this will allow NSW DPI to inform growers when and why diseases are likely to occur.