When assessing ocean-acidification research at shellfish hatcheries, one tempting question is this: laboratory studies may be dismissed because they occur outside open oceans. The passage broadens the inquiry: Hatcheries provide controlled settings for tracking larval responses while field monitoring remains necessary for ecosystem effects. Its main point is that shellfish hatchery studies can clarify larval responses to acidification without replacing field research on broader ecosystems. The argument concerns research design in shellfish contexts.