Clam Count and Weight Data Collection

Procedure

1. Set up a table near the upweller
2. Gather materials:
   1. Amir Digital Kitchen Scale 
   2. Petri dish
   3. ¼ cup scooper
   4. Paper towels
   5. notepad
3. Using the ¼ cup scooper, scoop out a random sample of clams from one of the buckets
   1. The clams should fill more than half of the cup, but not totally full
4. Try to remove the water from the scooper before placing the sample of clams on a paper towel
5. Move clams around on the paper towel to remove more water weight
6. Place the petri dish on the scale and tare it
7. Move the clams from the paper towel into the petri dish
8. Record the weight of the sample of clams 
   1. Include all empty shells as well in the sample weight
9. Once the weight is recorded, sort through the sample of clams and count all of the live clams in the sample
   1. Make sure you only count live clams because some shells can be stuck together looking like a live clam, but there is actually no clam inside
   2. One tip is to hold the clam with your index finger and thumb and gently push on the clam, moving your index finger down and your thumb up and this will spread the clam into 2 half shells if the clam is dead
10. Record the sample clam count in the notepad
11. Place the clams back in the same bucket you collected from
12. Throw out the wet paper towel and replace it with a dry one
13. Repeat steps 3-12 five times
14. Repeat steps 3-13 for every bucket