National Shellfisheries Association

08/21/2026

The Sea Grant Aquaculture Leadership Academy (ALA) is a professional development and training program for early- and mid-career aquaculture extension professionals across the United States. It focuses on building extension skills, expanding professional networks, and exposing participants to aquaculture in different regions of the country to support a growing U.S. aquaculture industry.

Texas Sea Grant and Minnesota Sea Grant will co-host ALA with one week of in-person programming from October 4 to October 7, 2027, held in Palacios, Texas, and one week in St. Paul, Minnesota, from May 3 to May 6, 2027. The program will support 60 participants through a mix of virtual and in-person training sessions. Individuals from Sea Grant extension programs, land-grant extension programs, federal agencies, and minority-serving institutions are eligible to participate.

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Welcome!The Sea Grant Aquaculture Leadership Academy (ALA) is a professional development and training program for early- and mid-career aquaculture extension professionals across the United States. It focuses on building extension skills, expanding professional networks, and exposing participants to...

07/07/2026

Researchers at the Louisiana Sea Grant Oyster Research Lab and the Louisiana State University Math Consultation Clinic have developed an automated, image-based tool that counts juvenile oyster seed faster and more accurately than traditional methods. The aim is to replace time-consuming hand-counts with a robust image-segmentation system that identifies and sizes oyster seed from photographs. The team trained an artificial intelligence deep-learning model (StarDist) on thousands of annotated images across two seed sizes, 2-4 millimeter and 4-6 millimeter. Accuracy has reached 90 to 94 percent.

For more information, visit: https://www.laseagrant.org/2026/new-tool/ or contact the lab via email at [email protected].

06/30/2026

Check out a recent lecture on the Queen Conch Lab (QCL) at the FAU Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute that highlights the history of the program, the science behind queen conch aquaculture, and the future of the lab’s restoration and community training work. https://www.fau.edu/hboi/discover-fau-harbor-branch/ocean-science-lecture-series/.

The FAU Harbor Branch QCL is also collaborating with wildlife illustrator Vitor Velez, The Headlessketcher, to launch a stunning archival print inspired by the biology, life cycle, and ecological importance of the queen conch. Printed on museum-grade paper, each piece preserves the detail, texture, and color depth of the original hand-drawn illustration. Each print sold directly supports the QCL to advance restoration, community hatcheries, youth education, and conservation efforts across the Caribbean. If you would like to support the FAU Queen Conch Lab or share with others, prints are available here: https://www.queenconchlab.com/shop

Florida Atlantic University

06/26/2026

STUDENT TRAVEL AWARD OPPORTUNITY TO THE 119TH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE NSA (Baltimore, MD)

12 awards available. International students interested in applying for a travel award must present a poster at the NSA meeting and send the following information as soon as possible to Dr. Acacia Alcivar-Warren ([email protected]): curriculum vitae, copy of the Visa page in your passport, and abstract (ready for submission to the NSA annual meeting).

Abstracts will be approved by the Scientific Committee of the FUCOBI Foundation. They will select awardees based on ratings of the quality of the research. TRAVEL AWARD APPLICATION DEADLINE: December 8, 2026.



Fundacion para Conservacion de Biodiversidad

06/22/2026

A new, interactive data platform developed by the Molluscan Ecology Lab at the William & Mary Batten School of Coastal & Marine Sciences and Virginia Institute of Marine Science, in collaboration with the Virginia Marine Resources Commission (VMRC), is transforming how scientists, managers, watermen and the public understand the wild oyster population in Virginia. Named the Virginia Oyster Stock Assessment and Replenishment Archive (VOSARA) 2.0, it converts almost three decades of fishery independent oyster survey data into a dynamic, GIS-based visualization tool. Find out more: https://www.vims.edu/newsandevents/topstories/2026/visualizing-virginia-oysters.php

06/19/2026

2025 Susan Ford Research Grant Award - Project Update

Jaypee Samson's (University of Rhode Island) project aimed to uncover the molecular processes that drive disseminated neoplasia (a contagious, leukemia-like cancer) in quahogs (Mercenaria mercenaria) and to develop a practical molecular diagnostic tool for early detection. Because disseminated neoplasia can potentially spread both within and between populations as an infectious disease, it represents a significant threat to natural shellfish populations as well as to aquaculture operations that rely on consistent survival rates. Comparative analysis between neoplastic cells and normal hemocytes revealed substantial functional differences. Using the single-cell data, seven genes that were expressed exclusively in neoplastic cells and absent from normal quahog hemocytes were identified. Following optimization and initial evaluation, two of the seven genes emerged as particularly strong candidates demonstrating higher specificity for neoplastic samples relative to non-neoplastic controls. The next phase of this project involves validating these candidate markers in a larger and more diverse collection of field-sampled clams. This expanded testing will assess the robustness and reliability of the markers under real-world conditions. Read the full story in the current NSA Quarterly Newsletter (www.shellfish.org/newsletter).

The Susan E. Ford Award which recognizes student excellence in the areas of bivalve or crustacean mechanisms of defense against microbial and parasitic infection.

For more information on the NSA Student Grant Awards and application information, visit: https://www.shellfish.org/student-research-grants. APPLICATION DEADLINE November 1, 2026.

06/15/2026

The Thurlow C. Nelson Outstanding Oral Presentation Award was awarded to Kimberly Lavoie, from University of Rhode Island for her presentation, “Assessing the influence of birds and site-specific characteristics of oyster farms on f***l coliform levels in Southern New England.”

The Gordon Gunter Outstanding Poster Presentation Award was awarded to Julianna Colucci, from California State University, Fullerton for her poster, “Boring problems: quantifying bioerosion patterns in Olympia oysters across southern California estuaries.”

Many congratulations to Kimberly and Juliana who will receive two years of membership to the NSA, a certificate of accomplishment, as well as a great résumé builder marking this achievement!

06/15/2026

Congratulations to Maritza Garcia-Flores (Instituto Politecnico Nacional, Mexico), for also receiving the annual Sandra E. Shumway Award for Outstanding Student Paper published in the Journal of Shellfish Research. An extra congratulations to Maritza who received the award previously in 2023.

Garcia-Flores, M., Aguilar-Cruz, C.A., Rodriguez-Jaramillo, C., Morelos-Castro, R.M., Hernandez-Cristobal, O., and Arellano-Martinez, M. 2024. Histological and morphological characterization of the development of the Kolliker’s organs of green octopus, Octopus hubbsorum. Journal of Shellfish Research, 43(2): 281-289. https://doi.org/10.2983/035.043.0215

This award has specific selection and evaluation criteria: (1) The lead author must have been a student when the work was completed, (2) the paper must present the student’s work, not that of a co-author, (3) it will be evaluated on the quality of the science and writing, and (4) the importance of the work to the field of shellfish research.⠀
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NSA student members are eligible for a number of competitive awards. Become a member of NSA: www.shellfish.org

06/08/2026

Congratulations to Jessica Pruett (The University of Southern Mississippi), for receiving the annual Sandra E. Shumway Award for Outstanding Student Paper published in the Journal of Shellfish Research. Jessica was also a 2025 BioOne Ambassador.

Pruett, J.L., Otts, S.S., Willett, K.L., Fairbanks, L., Darnell, K.M., and Gochfeld, D.J. 2024. A past, present, and future outlook on the Mississippi oyster fishery. Journal of Shellfish Research, 43(1): 1-13. https://doi.org/10.2983/035.043.0101

This award has specific selection and evaluation criteria: (1) The lead author must have been a student when the work was completed, (2) the paper must present the student’s work, not that of a co-author, (3) it will be evaluated on the quality of the science and writing, and (4) the importance of the work to the field of shellfish research.⠀
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NSA student members are eligible for a number of competitive awards. Become a member of NSA: www.shellfish.org

06/05/2026

Congratulations to Anne Gilewski of UConn who also received the 2026 NSA Michael Castagna Research Grant Award for her proposal 'Tire wear particles in Connecticut estuaries and their interactions with bivalve shellfish'.

The Michael Castagna Award recognizes student research in applied shellfish studies. Your colleagues and the members of the Association look forward to hearing the results of this study at our next conference in Ballimore, Maryland (March 2027).

NSA student members are eligible for a number of competitive awards. For more information on the student competitive grants: https://www.shellfish.org/grants-and-awards. To become a member of the NSA: www.shellfish.org