©ReClam the Bay The Barnegat Bay Shellfish Restoration Program Gef Flimlin and Cara Muscio Rutgers...

©ReClam the Bay www.reclamthebay.org

The Barnegat Bay Shellfish Restoration

Program

Gef Flimlin and Cara MuscioRutgers Cooperative Extension

&Rick Bushnell

ReClam the Bay, Inc.


Help grow MILLIONS of clams to repopulate the

bay… our watershed

Awareness: Each sticker = 400 clams back to the bay!


Growing the “seed”

Stack of 10 seed - day arrived

First week

One month

First spring


The Partners


What We Do

•Teach classes to our volunteers

• Grow clams & oysters from seed

•Measure & analyze growth and water quality

•Plant shellfish for environmental and economic benefits

•Educate about the Barnegat Bay watershed, water quality & shellfish.

•Raise funds and awareness

•Have FUN!


ReClam the Bay Will:

• Educate the community about the natural cycle and ecology of the Barnegat Bay

• Promote environmental stewardship of this vital resource

• Use native clams & oysters as the teaching tool to achieve these goals.


More People, Less Shellfish

• Significant human population growth in Ocean County over the past 60 years. – 37,675 in 1940– 25% growth rate in 1980s.– population increased to 511,000 by 2000.

• Almost 27% over 60 years of age. Many moved to be near the water.


More People, Less Shellfish

• Since1985 a drop of 900 full and part time clammers

• State Hard Clam surveys in 1983 and 2001 show a steep decline in wild clam populations – Clam aquaculture became necessary

as wild clam stock was diminished


Is the sun rising…..or setting?


Opportunity from Disaster

Increased Population +Environmental Degradation +

Less Shellfish = A critical moment (disaster) (Opportunity for Change)


The Future• People who love the water look for

leadership to help care for things that live in it

• Shellfish restoration programs succeed NY, DE, VA, SC,

• To “Protect, Restore, Educate and Partner.” is part of the mission of the EPA Barnegat Bay National Estuary Program (BBNEP) is to– The shellfish restoration program

accomplishes all of those tasks.


What did we do?• Provided 6 evenings of trainings for

70 volunteers – shellfish biology and culture– rules and regulations– discussions about restoration elsewhere

and hands on activities.

• Stocked and tended upwellers for 10 weeks.


Classroom Training


What We Did-2005• Found 2 sites to set up land based

nursery systems (upwellers).• Built silos and plumbed 2 upwellers• Grew 600,000 seed clams• Constructed over-wintering bags • Deployed the seed at 4 different

sites around the bay.• Had significant losses of over-

wintered seed.


Year 1, 2 upweller sitesSurf City Yacht Club The St. Francis Center


Upweller Silo Construction


Locally spawned clam seed was added to the land-based nursery systems



This is a dime next to the clam seed.

How well did the seed grow?


Minor problems….


Mortality in the upwellers was considerably less than

1%.


After 10 weeks, the clams were placed in plastic mesh bags for

transport and planting in Barnegat

Bay


It always rains when there is work to do!


Planting bags


Then it was time to plant the seed at the

different sites…






What We Did-2006• Added 4 more upwellers (Total

of 6)• Began “Clam Camp”• Grew 1.2 million clams and

100,000 oysters• Built Taylor floats for oysters• Built predator nets for clams• Planted the seed


Year 2: 4 more sitesBarnegat Light Municipal Dock Holiday Harbor Marina,

Waretown

Cedar Bonnet IslandWheelhouse Marina,

Seaside Park


Began to Use Taylor Floats For Oysters


CLAM GROWTH by VENDOR

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9/5/2005 9/15/2005 9/25/2005 10/5/2005 10/15/2005 10/25/2005 11/4/2005 11/14/2005 11/24/2005

Date

Size in millimeters

Avery 5 mm Zodl 3 mm Avery 3 mm Naut Nuggets 3 mm

Zodl 3 mm

Avery 3 mm

Avery 5

mm

Nautical Nuggets 3 mm


Clam growth 2005

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8-Sep 18-Sep 28-Sep 8-Oct 18-Oct 28-Oct 7-Nov

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size in millimeters

3mm clams 2005 Avery 5mm


In the end - we will conserve only what we love,

we will love only what we understand,

and we will understand only what we are taught.

- Baba Dioum, Senegelese Conservationist

Taking it a step further…


Education Program Goals

• Make the connections between shellfish, water quality, ecology, local culture, and human needs and actions.

• Showcase a working model of environmental stewardship and the benefits to the environment and society.


• “What the Bay Hinges on” • Workshops and field trips• Materials development• Speakers Bureau • Education at Fairs & Festivals• Working with local students (MATES)• Clam Camp• www.Reclamthebay.org• Press coverage

Education and Outreach

http://www.reclamthebay.org/


What the Bay HINGES on…

• Printed booklet and CD of lessons, activities, and visual materials

• Target grades 4-8, adaptable to all educational settings

OBSERVATIONS…on the half Shell.Subject Areas: Science Setting: ClassroomDuration: One Classroom PeriodSkills: Research, critical thinking, observation,

writing, public speakingVocabulary: Adaptation, shell, oyster, hard

clam, quahog, scallop, mussel, whelk, starfish, bivalve, gastropod, hinge

Across 2. The powerful muscles that keep bivalve shells closed 4. This common shorebird eats shellfish as well as human food 5. An organism that cannot make its own food, and must eat other organisms for energy 6. An organism that is food for other organisms 7. This blunt headed Ray can make a mess of a clam bed 11. Another name for the Hard clam, from "poquauhock" in Native American 14. Word describing a shelled animal that lives in water, especially if edible 16. A feature of an organism that helps it to survive 17. The most important shellfish species in New Jersey 18. This famous local crab eats shellfish, as well as being an important food source itself

Down 1. Shellfish known by its wavy shell 3. So called because it bores tiny holes into shellfish 4. Major crustacean enemy of shellfish and shellfish growers 8. Predator of Shellfish, radially symmetrical 9. Perhaps the biggest predators of shellfish, harvest in large numbers 10. Another name for the Whelk 12. An organism that lives by eating other organisms 13. An organism that makes its own food 15. This whelk is the state shell of NJ

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CLAM CAMP!!

• Six weekly lessons • Two groups: 5-8

years old, 9-14• In class activities &

“Hands on” at the upweller

• Hoping to expand to other upweller locations



www.reclamthebay.org


News Coverage


Always get a reporter when something good happens!


So what’s next?


Plans for 2007

•Recruit more volunteers•Continue training program

–Master Shellfish Gardner•Add 3 to 4 upweller sites•Continue and expand education efforts.


Plans for 2007

•Work with Bureau of Shellfisheries for sites for oyster reefs.

•Help to coordinate shell plantings for reefs.

•Purchase and grow more clams and oysters.


Plans for 2007

Raise awareness and funds:•Attend fairs and festivals•RCTB Stickers•Put a Million Back plaque•Coordinate a Public Art and

Education Program.


Fairs and Festivals


Stickers and Plaque


Page To Tell WHERE TO GET STICKERS


Coordinate a Public Art and Education Program.

•How, you may ask?


The Big Ass Clam


The Final Result?• Educate citizens about stewardship of

Barnegat Bay and about the place of shellfish and other organisms in that complex.

• Encourage people to make changes to reduce their impact on the bay and its inhabitants.

• Improve the populations of shellfish.• Have FUN!


Scott Patton

We think it is raising!

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©ReClam the Bay The Barnegat Bay Shellfish Restoration Program Gef Flimlin and Cara Muscio Rutgers...

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