For RCTB, fall is harvest AND planting
time for the clams.
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We now have 9
upwellers and you can visit them July to October.
They grew over 1.2 million clams in 2008.
The first thing we do is measure
and count the clams in the
upwellers. (Sal in the yellow and
Ed in the orange) Next we harvest the previous year's
clams from the lease sites to make room for this year's
crop of "babies."
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The graph and data table to the right is a sample of
growth data at the different upwellwers. 1)MYC is
Mantoloking Yacht Club, 2)BH is Beach Haven Sea Cadets,
3) BL is Barnegat Light, 4) HH is Holiday Harbor,
5)IBSP is Island Beach State Park, 6) SF is Saint
Francis Center, 7) BBYC Brant Beach YC, 8) BI is
Bonnet Island, 9) SCYC is Surf City YC
The growth is stated in milliliters per 100 clams.
In other words, the volume ( in milliliters) that it
take to hold 100 clams. The larger the number of
milliliters, the the larger the clams. Why are the clams
larger at some upwellers than others? Good question.
There are many factors that can cause growth rate to
vary. This is one of the things that we will be studying
in 2009.
Next we harvest the clams.
Harvesting involves using a kind of rake to scrape
the clams off the floor of the bay. Jeff, in the black
wet suit, shows a typical rake. Some of these clams
are from the 2006 and 2007 planting, so some will be
market size (1.5 '') but many will be smaller than that.
The clams that are really small, and will need more time
to grow, fall through the mesh in the rake basket and
stay for another year. Marty, in the brown wet suit, is showing off his special
rake. Yes, those are stainless steel table knives
specially fitted as tines.
It is a major effort to harvest the crop. Gef
provides instructions to Kathy and Helene before they join
Rick, Stan and the others. Harvested clams are dumped into the
black pans and then the pans go into the boat and ultimately to
shore.
Finally Matt, Lou and Gary spread the seed
that Gef will cover with a predator net. The net will keep
out the sea stars, crabs, moon snails and other predators, like
the one Jeff is holding up, that would otherwise
feast on our babies.
Graduation Class of 2008
On September 30 Jim M. gave the class the final review prior
to the Final Evaluation. October 7 was Final Evaluation evening.
One week later Certificates were given out. Twenty-eight of the
forty-eight people were on hand to receive their certificates.
WELL DONE CLASS OF 2008!
