Press release

Toms River April 17, 2009

News Release ReClam The Bay

Headquarters:

Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Ocean County
1623 Whitesville Rd.
Toms River, NJ 08755-1199

Telephone: 732/349-1152
Fax: 732/505-8941

www.reclamthebay.org

Release by Rick Bushnell, Pres. RCTB

rickb@quadii.com

RECLAM THE BAY AND FLEXABAR CORPORATION BEGIN PROJECT TO PLANT 2.5 MILLION CLAMS IN BARNEGAT BAY TO RESTORE ITS SHELLFISH POPULATION

ReClam the Bay, a Toms River, NJ-based nonprofit organization, and Flexabar Corporation, a Lakewood, NJ manufacturer of marine paints and coatings, have entered into an agreement to plant 2.5 million clams in Barnegat Bay during the summer of 2009. 

As ReClam the Bay’s President, Rick Bushnell, described, “This program will help restore the shellfish population of this precious marine estuary, whose waters are threatened by contamination from intensive development of surrounding areas”.

Flexabar’s President, Rick Guglielmo explained that “We are pleased to be part of Reclam the Bay’s work.  This natural resource restoration program offers a double benefit, because the clams also provide a natural mechanism for improving water quality in the Bay, by filtering and removing contaminants from the water”. 

            ReClam the Bay (RCTB) works with hundreds of volunteers from local communities, who are trained by the Barnegat Bay Shellfish Restoration Project (BBSRP) with the support of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s Bureau of Shellfisheries, Rutgers University’s Cooperative Extension program and the Barnegat Bay National Estuary Program . RCTB raises “seed” clams and oysters in land and water based nursery systems, and after they mature, “sows” them in protected areas within Barnegat Bay where they can grow, reproduce and/or be harvested.

RCTB has already planted 3 million clams as part of the group’s ongoing efforts to repopulate the Bay’s native shellfish. Under a Supplemental Environmental Project (SEP) being overseen by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Flexabar will provide RCTB with $14,300 to support the placement of 2.5 million more seed clams in Barnegat Bay this year.

This new funding will almost triple the size of RCTB’s existing program.  However, as Dr. Stan Hales, Program Director of USEPA’s Barnegat Bay National Estuary Program, points out, ”In addition to building RCTB’s capacity, this funding also supports RCTB’s vital mission of raising public awareness about water quality issues in the bay and the importance of pollution prevention..” 

RCTB’s Rick Bushnell gives the credit to both the clams and the volunteers, stating:

 “Shellfish are great because they can filter nitrogen and other nutrients out of the water. BUT the shellfish can’t clean up the environment on their own. It is much more efficient to keep nitrogen out of our water than to try to remove it after it gets in. Big changes can come from the actions of hundreds of motivated volunteers who can do what the shellfish can’t. Volunteers can educate friends and neighbors to reduce lawn fertilizer and pick up pet waste, and press for better regulation of non-point source pollution.”

Gef Flimlin, Marine Agent at Rutgers Extension for Ocean County, the leading educational partner for the Barnegat Bay Shellfish Restoration Program, articulated the vision for BBSRP and RCTB several years ago when he said “We will reclaim the bay, if we can reclam the bay.” The idea was that the health of the bay’s shellfish population can be treated as an indicator of the bay’s health as a whole. He stresses that one of the best parts of the program is the environmental stewardship and education that the volunteers provide to the community and the bay.

Flexabar’s attorney, David Michelman, of Michelman and Bricker in Cherry Hill, NJ, emphasized the importance of EPA’s role in supporting this project, stating “EPA’s enthusiastic support for this natural resource restoration and pollution reduction project also demonstrates EPA’s renewed commitment to applying sound scientific principles as it makes decisions in enforcing laws designed to protect the environment and public health”.

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Flexabar Corporation and Flexdel Corporation have undertaken the Supplemental Environmental Project described above as part of a settlement with USEPA of an administrative civil penalties action.