Randy Helps Reclam

On Saturday Randy and I set out north from 12th Street along Bayview to take pictures for future posts. It was a beautiful summer day, so there was considerable congestion around the municipal ramp on 10th Street.
As we maneuvered around the crowd jockeying to get their small craft into the bay I noticed some unusual activity behind the ramp office.
A few questions revealed that the group was working as part of a project to reclam Barnegat Bay. Tiny, pinhead-sized, clams had been placed in mesh bottomed buckets at the beginning of the season. Each Saturday they are taken out and “counted” by volume. So far it seems they have grown twelve fold. Each bucket received ½ liter originally and the reports yesterday were all over 6 liters each. The tiny clams are taken out of each bucket, measured by cupfuls and then replaced in their “nursery”. Randy was thrilled to help with the replacing part.

The clams will spend the winter in mesh bags in the bay with the hope that they will be thumb nail size by next season. That about does it for my knowledge of clam seeding – you can find out more at http://www.reclamthebay.org/ .

We will try to go back next Saturday to help again, as Randy’s name was to be added to the work list, so he now has responsibilities.