Boosting the resilience of European shellfish production against climate change related challenges through genetic selection

Bivalve aquaculture has become increasingly important sector of global blue bioeconomy in recent years due to its numerous environmental, economic, and social benefits. Bivalve aquaculture is considered sustainable and environmentally friendly compared with other aquaculture as it is low trophic, has a very limited carbon footprint, and it provides multiple ecosystem services. Shellfish production is already facing major challenges due to direct and indirect effects of climate change and such challenges will become even more serious in the future. The main objective of Shellfishboost are the development/optimisation of advanced tools for genetic selection and the estimation of genetic parameters for key traits (growth, resistance to heat-waves, salinity stress, summer mortalities, and presence of harmful algal toxins). Shellfishboost focusses on blue mussel (Mytilus edulis and Mytilus galloprovincialis), Manila clam (Ruditapes philippinarum), European clam (Ruditapes decussatus), European flat oyster (Ostrea edulis) and Pacific oysters (Crassostrea gigas) in Norway, Italy, Portugal and Spain. The Norwegian activities are on genetics on the presence of harmful algal toxins in blue mussels done by Nofima in collaboration with Norgeskjell. Nofima will also participate in developing a genetic tool for parentage testing.

Bivalve aquaculture has become increasingly important sector of global blue bioeconomy in recent years due to its numerous environmental, economic, and social benefits. Shellfish farming is considered sustainable and environmentally friendly compared with other aquaculture species as it is low trophic, has a very limited carbon footprint, and it provides multiple ecosystem services. Shellfish production is already facing major challenges due to direct and indirect effects of climate change and such challenges will become even more serious in the future. The long-term goal of ShellFishBoost is to mitigate the effects of climate change on the bivalve production with the ultimate impact of protecting and developing a vital blue bioeconomic sector in Europe.The main objectives are the development/optimisation of advanced tools for genetic selection and the estimation of genetic parameters for key traits (growth, resistance to heat-waves, salinity stress, summer mortalities, and presence of harmful algal toxins). A third major objective is the co-creation of best practices for selective breeding in each target species, together with industrial partners of ShellFishBoost and other relevant stakeholders(producer associations and other bivalve hatcheries). WP1: develop and optimize advanced tools for genetic selection. WP2: estimate genetic parameters and identify QTLs for disease resistance in oysters and clams. WP3: estimate genetic parameters and identify QTLs for resilience to climate-related challenges in oysters and clams. WP4: estimate genetic parameters and identify QTLs for reduced toxin accumulation in mussels. WP5: co-create best practices and strengthen the capacities for selective breeding in bivalves. ShellFishBoost embraces the approach based on the "Theory of Change”.