WASHINGTON, August 23, 2023—The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) today awarded over $403,000 in Fiscal Year 2023 Specialty Crop Block Grant Program (SCBGP) funding to Connecticut.

The Connecticut Department of Agriculture’s Bureau of Aquaculture routinely monitors oyster harvest areas statewide for vibrio levels during the summer months. Samples are screened for levels of total vibrio bacteria and then vibrio vulnificus and pathogenic Vibrio parahaemolyticus levels. The bureau’s laboratory will have updated results on Friday, August 4, of Vibrio, both vibrio parahaemolyticus and vibrio vulnificus, from harvest areas statewide.