The Great Bay/Piscataqua River Estuary in New Hampshire and Maine has an abundant oyster resource in sewage-contaminated water. The only approved area in the Maine portion of the Estuary is Spinney Creek, where fecal indicator bacteria are present at reduced levels and Vibrio vulnificus is absent. Spinney Creek Oyster Company (SCOC) of Eliot, Maine, operates relay lagoons and a depuration facility for oysters harvested commercially from restricted areas of the Salmon Falls River in Maine. Oysters naturally contaminated with vibrios and fecal indicator bacteria were used to evaluate depuration and relaying as strategies for eliminating these bacteria from shellfish. Oysters and water were analysed for the presence of total and fecal coliforms, V.... |