The Gouldsboro Shellfish Resilience Lab is very pleased to announce that John Ayarik will be joining us as our 2023 summer intern. John is a graduate student pursuing a degree in Environmental Science at the University of New Haven in Connecticut. He previously earned his bachelor’s degree in marine science from the University of Ghana in West Africa.
“Volunteers” in the Lines. CRUNCH Followed by WHOOSH!
Wednesday, 9/7, was a big day at the Shellfish Resilience Lab. Four of us (Chantal, Elin, Mike, and Pauline) went to the lab to do a routine tank cleaning. Cabot, the Lab Labrador, was there as well, "guarding" the loading dock for us. We figured it would take about an hour and a half with all of us experienced tank cleaners there. Not so, it turns out.
Nursery Trays are Floating
Last week, Mike Pinkham and I spent a few days constructing five nursery trays that our small seed clams would soon be placed in. A nursery tray is a rectangular wooden tray about 3-4 feet in length and width, and about 3 inches high. The bottom and top of each tray is made of a … Continue reading Nursery Trays are Floating
Two-Month-Old Clam Growth Update
In order for the clam lab to be cost effective, it is important that our clam population has a high survival rate as well as a typical growth rate. The good news is, most of our two-month-old clams have survived up to this point. The bad news is, their growth rate is significantly slower than … Continue reading Two-Month-Old Clam Growth Update
Seed Clam Growth
Just about one month ago, we put our tiny seed clams in the upweller tank. Because this was our first time rearing clams this small in the upweller tanks, there was a steep learning curve. A day after we spread the little clams evenly into six, one millimeter mesh-bottom buckets, we soon realized that these … Continue reading Seed Clam Growth
One-Year-Old Clams: Growth and Mortality Report
Late in May, I collected and analyzed data on the one-year-old clams before they began feeding and rapidly growing. I was specifically focused on the average clam shell length and the estimated total number of live clams we had in the upweller. Our goal was to compare this data to the data that we collected … Continue reading One-Year-Old Clams: Growth and Mortality Report
Clam Recruitment – 2021 Results
Gouldsboro's shellfish committee places recruitment boxes along the shore to gather data about recruitment density. Identifying the bays and coves where recruitment is strongest is important when deciding where to focus restoration efforts. On December 17th we opened up the recruitment boxes that had been sitting out on mudflats during summer and fall. Opening up the boxes is kind of exciting. What will we find?
2021 Nursery Tray Findings
On November 16, 2021, a team of volunteers retrieved and processed the 10 nursery trays that had been floating in the old lobster pound behind Gouldsboro’s Shellfish Resilience Lab in Bunker’s Harbor. This is a report on what they did and what they found. It also looks ahead to what these findings mean for work in 2022.