Until the early 1960s, mussels were harvested by hand from intertidal rocks.
A grow-out facility is the place where the spat are raised to market size, usually in enclosures anchored in coastal waters.Hatcheries can also be associated with research facilities where spat can be selectively bred to specifications, as broodstock. Spat is cultured in hatcheries, and can be grown in tanks on land. Spat, also called seed, is the free-swimming larval stage of a shellfish.These shellfish are cultivated in two distinct stages first spat needs to be collected, then the spat is grown in a grow-out facility. Over two-thirds of New Zealand's aquaculture product comes from mussels and oysters. Mostly Marlborough Sounds and around Stewart Island, but also in channels below hydroelectric dams in the Mackenzie Basin. North coast of the North Island: Coromandel, Bay of Islands and the Whangaroa, Mahurangi and Kaipara Harbours. Particularly the top of the South Island, Pelorus Sounds, Tasman and Golden bays but also the Hauraki Gulf and Coromandel, with a small number around Banks Peninsula and Stewart Island. Value of farmed species in 2006 (NZ$ million)
Mussel accounted for 63 percent of this value, Pacific oysters 9 percent and king salmon 28 percent. In 2006 these three species generated $357 million in sales. There are three main species in the New Zealand aquaculture industry: the green-lipped mussel, the Pacific oyster and king salmon. In the North Island, the Firth of Thames is productive. In New Zealand, about 70 percent of marine aquaculture occurs in the top of the South Island. Marine aquaculture, mariculture, occurs in the sea, generally in sheltered bays along the coast. This applies particularly to some Māori communities with traditional links to coastal settlements. The aquaculture industry is important for some coastal areas around New Zealand where there is limited employment.
A similar amount of indirect employment resulted from flow-on effects. In 2005 the aquaculture industry provided direct employment for about 2,500 full-time equivalents, mostly in the processing sector. Of that area, 7,713 ha is in established growing areas and is owned by the aquaculture industry, 4,010 ha is used to enhance the wild scallop fishery and belongs to the Challenger Scallop Enhancement Company, and 2,465 ha is an exposed site six kilometres offshore from Napier where trials are being undertaken by a private company to test the site's economic viability. It takes place in New Zealand in coastal marine areas ( mariculture) and in inland tanks or enclosures.Īquaculture in New Zealand currently (2008) occupies 14,188 ha. External imagesĪquaculture production in tonnes, 1950–2006Īquaculture is the general term given to the cultivation of any fresh or salt water plant or animal. We conclude that the improved survival of larvae might occur via maternal provisioning of antiviral compounds in the eggs.Mussel farm, New Zealand. RNA-seq provided no evidence to suggest that parental exposure to poly(I:C) reconfigures antiviral gene expression in unchallenged larvae.
Here we show that oyster larvae have higher survival to OsHV-1 when their mothers, but not their fathers, are exposed to poly(I:C) prior to spawning. The mechanism that the oyster uses to transfer immunity to the next generation is unknown. Improved survival following exposure to poly(I:C) has been found in later life stages (within-generational immune priming) and in the next generation (transgenerational immune priming). This has been demonstrated using poly(I:C) to elicit an antiviral response in the Pacific oyster ( Crassostrea gigas) against Ostreid herpesvirus (OsHV-1). The oyster's immune system is capable of adapting upon exposure to a pathogen-associated molecular pattern (PAMP) to have an enhanced secondary response against the same type of pathogen.