August 3, 2018

RU a Happy Clam?

by S-FX.com

hard clam

Are you “happy as a clam?”  The song on this video about a clam’s life in the bay is sure to put a smile on your face!

Steam them, grill them, bake them — no matter how you cook them, Barnegat Bay hard clams are delicious! But what are their lives like before we harvest them for our next dinner?

Hard clams (Mercenaria mercenaria) burrow into the bottom of Barnegat Bay, sticking two siphons up into the water above them. They draw water into one siphon and filter out microscopic organisms called plankton — their food — and shoot the now cleaner water back into the bay through the other siphon. One large hard clam can clean up to 20 gallons of water every day!

Where do baby clams come from?  Adult hard clams “spawn” (release eggs and sperm) into the water from May through October when water temperatures are warm enough. Female clams can release millions of eggs during a spawn. The eggs are fertilized as they drift in the water, then free-swimming larvae develop over the next couple of weeks. The larvae develop a “foot” that they use to explore surfaces as they look for a good place to settle and grow to adulthood. (Learn more about clams from ReClam the Bay volunteers, who grow and maintain millions of baby clams and oysters and offer free educational programs at their upwellers throughout the watershed.)

With a grant from the Barnegat Bay Partnership, Rutgers researchers have been studying the movement of hard clam larvae in the bay.   RU Hard Clam 2

The researchers asked: “What are the potential patterns of hard clam larval dispersal in Barnegat Bay, and can we find larvae following those patterns?”  To try to answer these questions, they designed a project combining computer modeling and field study. Rutgers researchers Dr. Jake Goodwin and Dr. Daphne Munroe used state-of-the-art techniques to simulate larval dispersal (in partnership with USGS colleagues Neil Ganju and Zafer Defne) by using computer hydrodynamic simulations. They then sampled live plankton throughout the bay to compare real larval distributions to the simulated distributions.  All of this is an effort to help understand spatial patterns and declines in hard clams over time in the bay, and to help inform future strategies to restore shellfish populations to the bay.

The reseachers also partnered with Mason Gross Documentary Film School, engaging film students in the field and laboratory to document the project. The film students created this short video to help us share the message about the importance of shellfish restoration and healthy coastal ecosystems!

RU Hard Clam 1 Scaled

 

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UNKNOWN

There is limited data available to quantify Wetland and Riparian Buffer Preservation, or updated data to quantify Wetland Acreage. The BBP has obtained funding and will begin assessment efforts for both targets, in the next few years.

 

 Hard Clam abundance has not been updated since 2012. Recovery of the stock will be guided by the Fishery Management Plan for Hard Clams, which is under development with the NJDEP, BBP, and other organizations. Reclam the Bay and other partners have continued to plant clams for restoration purposes. Continued plantings in strategic locations which maximize survival and reproduction is one strategy to pursue in the coming years. This work can use a model developed by Rutgers with BBP funding which identified areas where planted clams could have the greatest dispersal of their larvae and thus potentially maximally contribute to the recovery of the stock.

 Water Withdrawals were over the target in the 2021 report; USGS has not yet completed its latest update, so a definitive determination of status is not available. However, additional NJDEP data show that it is likely that we continue to not meet the target. Per capita water use has gone down, demonstrating the effectiveness of water-saving appliances and practices, but that decrease has been offset by population gains. 


IN PROGRESS

New maps quantifying Submerged Aquatic Vegetation extent were developed, but poor image clarity resulted in a high degree of uncertainty in the total acreage. NJDEP and Rutgers are working to resolve the uncertainty of these maps, and improve the total acreage estimate. Funding has also been obtained for further research and restoration activities. Several groups are developing potential restoration actions.

The USGS has completed the first phase of its study to identify minimum ecological flows in select Barnegat Bay tributaries. USGS scientists compared streamflow statistics between historical and current time periods to better understand trends in watershed flow conditions. This work provides a foundation for developing ecological flow targets in the Barnegat Bay watershed.  Similar to SAV extent, funding (approximately $450K) has been obtained by the BBP to complete the remaining phases necessary for threshold determination.

 

TARGETS ACHIEVED

No targets can be considered “Achieved” at this time.

 

NOT ACHIEVING

Several Public Swimming Beaches exceeded their safe swimming standards more frequently than during their baseline time period (2016-2018).

While most beaches are routinely safe for swimming, several problematic areas such as Beachwood, Hancock, Windward, and several lake beaches need track-down studies and restoration to pinpoint and address sources of bacteria.

Acres of Approved Shellfish Waters decreased from the last report. While this decrease was small, it represents a loss of previously approved waters. Similar to public beaches, track-down studies and restoration work are needed to pinpoint and address sources of bacteria.

 

RU a Happy Clam?

Are you “happy as a clam?”  The song on this video about a clam’s life in the bay is sure to put a smile on your face!

Steam them, grill them, bake them — no matter how you cook them, Barnegat Bay hard clams are delicious! But what are their lives like before we harvest them for our next dinner?

Hard clams (Mercenaria mercenaria) burrow into the bottom of Barnegat Bay, sticking two siphons up into the water above them. They draw water into one siphon and filter out microscopic organisms called plankton — their food — and shoot the now cleaner water back into the bay through the other siphon. One large hard clam can clean up to 20 gallons of water every day!

Where do baby clams come from?  Adult hard clams “spawn” (release eggs and sperm) into the water from May through October when water temperatures are warm enough. Female clams can release millions of eggs during a spawn. The eggs are fertilized as they drift in the water, then free-swimming larvae develop over the next couple of weeks. The larvae develop a “foot” that they use to explore surfaces as they look for a good place to settle and grow to adulthood. (Learn more about clams from ReClam the Bay volunteers, who grow and maintain millions of baby clams and oysters and offer free educational programs at their upwellers throughout the watershed.)

With a grant from the Barnegat Bay Partnership, Rutgers researchers have been studying the movement of hard clam larvae in the bay.   RU Hard Clam 2

The researchers asked: “What are the potential patterns of hard clam larval dispersal in Barnegat Bay, and can we find larvae following those patterns?”  To try to answer these questions, they designed a project combining computer modeling and field study. Rutgers researchers Dr. Jake Goodwin and Dr. Daphne Munroe used state-of-the-art techniques to simulate larval dispersal (in partnership with USGS colleagues Neil Ganju and Zafer Defne) by using computer hydrodynamic simulations. They then sampled live plankton throughout the bay to compare real larval distributions to the simulated distributions.  All of this is an effort to help understand spatial patterns and declines in hard clams over time in the bay, and to help inform future strategies to restore shellfish populations to the bay.

The reseachers also partnered with Mason Gross Documentary Film School, engaging film students in the field and laboratory to document the project. The film students created this short video to help us share the message about the importance of shellfish restoration and healthy coastal ecosystems!

RU Hard Clam 1 Scaled

 

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