From Detection to Resilience: Onda’s Continued Response to MSX

In July 2024, the CFIA confirmed the first positive test for MSX off the coast of PEI. The disease has devastated oyster populations elsewhere along the Atlantic coast, from Delaware Bay in the 1950s to Bras d’Or Lakes in the early 2000s, causing major declines and, in some areas, ending oyster farming altogether. Now PEI is facing a disease that could threaten both oyster farming and the ecosystems supported by these important filter feeders.

Following the first detection of MSX in PEI, our team moved quickly to develop a rapid diagnostic test designed to support earlier detection and give oyster producers more timely information about the health of their stocks. The work was driven by an immediate industry need because when disease moves quickly, waiting for answers can limit the options available to producers.

Since the initial outbreak, we have continued working alongside industry partners to better understand MSX and develop practical tools that can contribute to long-term disease management.

This work has now entered an important new phase.

Onda is proud to be partnering with Atlantic Aqua Farms and the Center for Aquaculture Technologies on the $1.1 million Accelerating the Development of MSX-Resistant Oyster Seed Project, announced through Canada’s Ocean Supercluster. The project will combine disease research, genetics and hatchery expertise to support the development of oyster strains with greater resistance to MSX, while also generating new information about the disease and the oyster immune response.

For Onda, this project marks an important next step in our work with the oyster industry. We are moving beyond detecting MSX to understanding how it affects oysters and developing practical tools to manage current and future outbreaks with the goal of building a more resilient industry.

MSX is not a challenge that one farm or one company can solve alone. It calls for producers, researchers, laboratories, hatcheries and genetics specialists to work together. The disease affects the wider community,and that same community effort will be essential to overcoming it. That is what makes this project particularly meaningful for Onda. Progress comes from building on what we learn and bringing community, industry and research together.

What began with the urgent need for faster MSX detection has grown into a broader effort to understand the disease, improve decision-making and support the development of more resilient oyster stocks.

We are proud to be part of that journey and to work alongside partners across Atlantic Canada who are committed to finding solutions that can strengthen the future of oyster aquaculture.