A study initiated by Dr. Ryan Carnegie of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science at Gloucester Point, has found that oyster aquaculture operations can limit the spread of disease among wild populations of oysters. The findings are contrary to long-held beliefs that diseases are often spread from farmed populations to wild populations.

“The very act of aquaculture has positive effects on wild populations of oysters,” said Dr. Tal Ben-Horin, the study’s lead author and a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Rhode Island. “The established way of thinking is that disease spreads from aquaculture, but in fact aquaculture may limit disease in nearby wild populations.”

Carnegie, a study co-author and research professor at VIMS, brought the study team together as part of a Research Coordination Network on marine diseases funded by the National Science Foundation and led by Drew Harvell of Cornell University. Published last month in the journal Aquaculture ...