GLOUCESTER POINT — The market for farmed shellfish in Virginia has grown dramatically in the past five years, according to the latest industry report from William & Mary’s Batten School of Coastal & Marine Sciences & VIMS, whose research and support have played an important role in the growth of Virginia’s Aquaculture Industry.

Shellfish aquaculture is the farming of shellfish like oysters and clams for food, and the Acuff Centre for Aquaculture — home to the Marine Science school’s shellfish aquaculture spawning — is one of the primary facilities used by VIMS, as well as industry members and collaborators.

VIMS gives credit to the industry for the boom — those who actually raise the shellfish — while comparing the role it plays as comparable to a trainer for an athlete, researching the

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