P.E.I. hatchery says it's produced 1st MSX-resistant oyster seed in Canada 

Nancy Russell · CBC News

· Posted: May 15, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 11 minutes ago

A hatchery successful occidental Prince Edward Island says it has produced the archetypal batch of MSX-resistant oyster effect successful the country, but astatine slightest 1 adept says it's inactive excessively aboriginal to find those results. 

The Bideford Shellfish Hatchery is located successful the bosom of P.E.I.'s wild oyster accumulation region, which has been deed hard by the parasite. 

Multinuclear sphere X, oregon MSX, is harmless to humans but tin be deadly to oysters. Since it was archetypal detected successful Island waters successful July 2024, it has devastated stocks in immoderate areas, including the famed Bedeque Bay. 

The Bideford hatchery's caller batch of effect — essentially young oyster larvae that are utilized to start new beds oregon reefs — have a transportation to Bedeque Bay. It's 1 of the places where oysters were collected for the hatchery's breeding program. 

Guy Perry, a geneticist and the hatchery's manager, calls the seed "survivors" — and the mentation is that they are the champion anticipation for producing MSX-resistant oysters.

"Our anticipation is they should person the astir absorption of immoderate [oysters] connected the Island, oregon adjacent successful Atlantic Canada," Perry said.

"Essentially, the sites we picked them from person the astir infected presumption of immoderate of the sites presently successful Bedeque Bay."

WATCH | Experts impulse caution, but P.E.I. hatchery hopeful for MSX-resistant oyster seed:

Perry said he's basing absorption connected the oysters' projected complaint of survival, which helium estimates to beryllium successful the 70 per cent scope for the hatchery's caller seed. 

The Bideford breeding programme is the aforesaid benignant of strategy utilized connected the Eastern Seaboard of the United States aft MSX was discovered determination decades ago. Perry said effect successful that country person shown 89 per cent resistance. 

"Chesapeake Bay, Virginia, Long Island Sound, they each went precisely the aforesaid mode wherever they took survivors of outbreaks and bred them into the strategy to nutrient a banal line."

The hatchery is located successful the Bideford River Marine Centre. 

It was primitively a national authorities probe presumption focused connected the oyster manufacture earlier it was transferred to the Lennox Island Development Corporation successful 2014.

It relaunched it arsenic a hatchery a fewer years later.

LISTEN | This week's occurrence of the This is P.E.I. podcast looks astatine efforts to combat MSX connected the Island:

Adrian Desbarats is an aquaculture concern improvement advisor with Ulnooweg, a not-for-profit that supports Indigenous fisheries initiatives. He's been an advisor to the Bideford hatchery since 2015.

Desbarats said the hatchery volition nutrient astir 25 cardinal oyster effect this year, with plans to summation accumulation to astir 90 cardinal implicit the adjacent fewer years.  

After that, helium said the breeding programme volition astir apt request much enactment from the provincial and national governments to further ramp up its production. 

"There is simply a batch much infrastructure, a batch much labour that is required to nutrient an MSX-resistant seed," Desbarats said.

"If we could get immoderate designation of that and enactment to assistance america execute that MSX-resistant effect to get it retired to the industry, that would beryllium precise helpful."

According to the P.E.I. Shellfish Association, determination were 72 cardinal oysters sold connected P.E.I. successful 2023. 

'Wait-and-see' approach 

The Bideford breeding programme has been attracting attention, including from scientists successful Atlantic Canada who survey oysters.

Eric Ignatz, a station doctoral chap successful the marine affairs programme astatine Dalhousie University successful Halifax, said if the Bideford hatchery tin beryllium the effect is MSX-resistant, that would beryllium a archetypal successful the country. 

But that tin be tricky, helium said, due to the fact that determination is truthful small known astir the parasite and however it's spread, particularly successful Canada. 

Ignatz volition beryllium doing probe connected MSX this summertime successful Cape Breton and connected Prince Edward Island. 

"I would presumption the tract enactment components arsenic benignant of a captious archetypal measurement to place oysters successful earthy beds oregon connected farms that would person been exposed to MSX implicit the past year, breeding those oysters that you astatine slightest fishy are resistant oregon tolerant," helium said.

"It's hard to archer whether oysters that you're spawning this twelvemonth are going to beryllium resistant oregon tolerant to MSX."

The relation is besides taking immoderate enactment of its own. It's had an enhancement program that grows oysters to beryllium released backmost successful the wild to replenish the stocks for years now. 

Staff are besides adding a nursery, and are hoping to acquisition immoderate of the effect from the Bideford hatchery to study however to turn it.

Perry is hopeful the Bideford programme volition beryllium successful. 

"It's a just grade of pressure, it's a heavy consciousness of work to the community," helium said.

"There's a batch of radical that are very, precise acrophobic close now. And I hatred to spot that. I truly do. We're doing the implicit champion we can, arsenic accelerated arsenic we tin to woody with the problem."

The hatchery has buyers for astir fractional of the 25 cardinal effect it's produced this year, and the remainder volition beryllium sold connected a first-come, first-served basis.