Projects

Currently, kelp farming in the USA is limited to native, unimproved varieties in their natural range sampled from natural populations. Genomics breeding and multi-trait optimization will develop ocean crops competitive with land crops for production costs and nutrition benefits. This will enable profitable and sustainable kelp cultivation in nearshore coastal environments and the USA EEZ. Crop improvement will reduce the seaweed trade imbalance and provide jobs in ocean farming to fishermen who are suffering from declining catches. Our goal is to provide consumers with desirable, nutritious, healthy and inexpensive food, feed, and fuel from the sea.

Permitting large scale cultivation of domesticated kelps in open ocean will require precaution as far as natural kelp populations go. An approach is required that will ensure no gene flow from domesticated farmed kelps to fragile natural populations. To develop non-GMO sporeless kelp crops, we are taking advantage of the haplo-diplontic reproductive cycle of kelps, which is uniquely well suited to domestication and F₁ cultivation. The diploid sporophyte generation is the harvested crop (fronds). The haploid gametophytes can be indefinitely vegetatively propagated in culture. In these cultures, we are identifying natural mutations (knock outs) in genes required for meiosis (using sequencing and bioinformatic approaches). The crosses of male and female gametophytes with compromised function in the same meiosis gene will ensure complete sporophyte sterility.

At present, we know little about key seawater parameters and how they might vary through time (daily/seasonally) at the intake site. Parameters such as turbidity, and vertical variations in temp or salinity could be important in determining the timing and duration and optimal depth of intake pumping of seawater for storage and utilization in aquaculture systems. Scott Applebaum and David Ginsburg (Environmental Studies Program) are developing a seawater monitoring program for the intake. This program would capitalize on instrumentation currently available (meters for salinity and dissolved O₂, Secchi disk turbidity, vertical temperature profilers, etc.) and a motivated group of undergraduates interested in gaining hands on scientific research and environmental monitoring experience.

The Pacific Southwest is currently poised to expand U.S. mussel aquaculture production, yet lacks a reliable source of seed stock that will help meet the growing challenges of ocean acidification (OA). The overarching goal of this project is to produce genetically diverse but locally adapted stocks of Pacific Southwest (PSW) mussels that demonstrate tolerance to OA while maintaining optimal growth performance. Using a hatchery-based artificial selection process, this study aims to produce the first cohort for a selective breeding program to develop OA-tolerant stocks of the Blue Mussel (BM), Mytilus galloprovincialis, an economically important species in the PSW and U.S. aquaculture industry.

Mytilus galloprovincialis is most eaten mussel, praised for taste and healthy lipid composition. Its native origin is in Mediterranean sea, and it is an obligate component of corresponding diet. This blue mussel has extended its range to California, where it si considered naturalized. Several farms in Southern California (Carlsbad Aquafarms, Santa Barbara Mariculture) farm it, and regulators have accepted that – while not a native species – it poses limited harm to natural populations of other mussels such as native M. californicus. One problem with this mussel, however, is that after it spawns out, it loses commercial value. Ideal mussel would ripen with the accumulation with abundant healthy lipid, but it would fail to transmit to spawning, thus remaining ripe and harvestable for extended time. Not only triploid blue mussels grow as all male sterile populations, they also remain ripe for several months, making them a higher value crop. We are working on induction of tetraploid animals to, then, consistently producing triploids by breeding tetraploid males with diploid females. Funded by Sea Grant.

The graduate students affiliated with the program have developed a curriculum and taught the Introduction to Aquaculture class to the 10th grade biology class at Oscar de la Hoya Charter High School. Topics included the discussion of carrying capacity and the need for more sustainable food to address rising population levels and increased climate stress. The curriculum reviewes different aquaculture techniques and discusses future application of genomics to expedite breeding programs. If you want to develop your teaching skills, join our team in offering this class to students in disadvaged communities.