The Barnegat Bay Partnership’s (BBP) Shellfish Working Group (SWG) is a standing committee formed in May 2014 under the purview of the BBP Science and Technical Advisory Committee (STAC) as set forth in the STAC charter document. The initial SWG charge was to review the conclusions and recommendations of the BBP sponsored white paper “Status and Trends of Hard Clam, Mercenaria mercenaria, Shellfish Populations in Barnegat Bay, New Jersey” by Bricelj et al. (2012), and develop short, medium, and long term research, rehabilitation, and policy recommendations that the BBP, and its partners, could pursue as part of an overall shellfish restoration program (including, but not limited to hard clam (Mercenaria mercenaria), eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica), and bay scallop (Argopecten irradians)) within Barnegat Bay.
The composition of the working group was purposely designed to include representation from a variety of stakeholders, including resource managers, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), researchers, and the shellfish industry, in order to capture the breadth of experience and opinions present within the shellfish community. It was hoped that the diversity of organizations participating in the SWG would lead to potentially novel approaches to difficult problems and to new partnerships that otherwise may not have formed.
| Name | Affiliation |
|---|---|
| Dr. Jim Vasslides – Co-Chair | Barnegat Bay Partnership |
| Kristin Adams – Co-Chair | Ocean County Soil Conservation District |
| Russ Babb | NJDEP Bureau of Shellfisheries |
| Jeff Normant | NJDEP Bureau of Shellfisheries |
| Scott Stueber | NJDEP Bureau of Shellfisheries |
| Dale Parsons Jr. | Parsons Seafood |
| Dr. Daphne Munroe | Rutgers Univ – Haskins Shellfish Research Lab |
| Dr. Doug Zemeckis | Rutgers Cooperative Extension |
| Dr. Amanda Wenczel | NJ Department of Agriculture |
| Steve Evert | Stockton University |
| Dr. Christine Thompson | Stockton University |
| Zack Greenberg | Pew Trusts |
| Matt Gregg | Barnegat Oyster Collective/40North Oyster Farm |
| Barbara Spinweber | US EPA Region 2 |
| Bill Walsh | ReClam the Bay |
| Angela Andersen | Long Beach Township |