Hollings Marine Laboratory

South Carolina Department of Natural Resources

The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources    (SCDNR) is the advocate for and steward of the state's natural resources. Located at the Marine Resources Center on James Island, the Marine Resources Research Institute    (MRRI), which is part of the Marine Resources Division    of the SCDNR, is South Carolina's only seaside research facility which is not directly administered by an academic institution. The Institute provides the scientific expertise and technical capabilities needed to develop and conduct the research programs required to protect, restore, and enhance the state's extensive estuarine and marine resources. Much of the research conducted by the Institute is focused on monitoring the condition of finfish, crustacean, and shellfish resources. These research programs also include studies to better define the ecology, population extent and distribution, and habitat needs of numerous species that are both recreationally and commercially important. The MRRI has a dedicated Marine Genomics Program    and dedicated programs in shellfish and crustacean disease that support this research, with much of that research conducted at the HML.

The MRRI also has an extensive environmental research    program that evaluates the consequences of human-related activities on marine and estuarine resources related to both pollution and habitat alterations. The environmental research program also conducts routine monitoring of the condition of the state's estuaries as part of a cooperative effort with the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (SCDHEC) and several federal agencies. This program, entitled the South Carolina Estuarine and Coastal Assessment Program    (SCECAP) samples numerous sites throughout the coastal zone in both tidal creeks and larger open water bodies to evaluate water quality, sediment quality, and biotic condition, and integrates these measures into standardized indices of condition. SCECAP stations are currently being used to assess the distribution and concentration of selected emerging contaminants and the data from this program are also being used in the monitoring and assessment component of OHH.

Another major component of the MRRI research program is focused on aquaculture   . MRRI staff have developed state-of-the-art culture techniques for superintensive shrimp culture that is environmentally friendly and can result in year round production of fresh product. Commercial culture techniques for several finfish and shellfish species have also been developed and the MRRI's aquaculture program is also involved in stock enhancement of overfished species, such as red drum. This program is able to evaluate the results of fish stocking efforts through genetic fingerprinting of the brood stock. Much of the MRRI's aquaculture research is conducted at the Waddell Mariculture Research Center    located in Bluffton, South Carolina, and SCDNR staff are involved in the aquatic production facilities at the HML.

HML Principal Scientists representing the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources include:

Amy Ball
Email: balla@mrd.dnr.state.sc.us
Research interests: population genetics.
Selected current projects:

• Cooperative Institute of Fisheries Molecular Biology (FISHTEC): Stock structure of coastal marine fishes of the Southeastern U.S. determined by molecular techniques.
• Stock structure of red porgy, Pagrus pagrus, in the North Atlantic.

Craig Browdy
Email: browdyc@mrd.dnr.state.sc.us
Research interests: crustacean aquaculture, shrimp disease and immunity.
Selected current projects:

• U.S. Marine Shrimp Farming Program—a quantitative bioassay core for the study of marine biotic health and pathogen risk assessment.
• Human health benefits & risks of seafood—establishment of a Center of Excellence in Oceans and Human Health.

Robert Chapman
Email: chapmanr@mrd.dnr.state.sc.us
Research interests: fisheries genetics, species identification, and forensics.
Selected current projects:

• Cooperative Institute of Fisheries Molecular Biology (FISHTEC): stock structure of coastal marine fishes of the Southeastern U.S. determined by molecular techniques.
• Marine genomics core—establishment of a Center of Excellence in Oceans and Human Health.

Neng Shepard
Email: shepardn@mrd.dnr.state.sc.us
Research interests: molecular techniques; invertebrate pathology⁄microbiology.
Selected current projects:

• Shrimp disease and immunity: host, pathogen, and environment interactions.
• Evaluation of ecological and commercial impact of white spot syndrome virus (WSSV) infection in the white shrimp, Litopenaeus vannamei, and the blue crab, Callinectes sapidus, in the Southeastern United States using an immunoassay technique.