During the early mornings of June 8th and 9th, groups of 8th-grade students from the Charles M. Sumner Learning Campus filed off their school bus and onto Prospect Harbor’s mudflats. Quadrants hung off of shoulders, and data sheets flapped in the breeze. A survey of green crab populations was about to take place.
Tunicate Trouble
Every other day, I hose down the one-year-old clams and their mesh-bottom buckets with salt water. As I was rinsing and washing these buckets, I saw an increasing number of unfamiliar organisms attached to the one-year-old clams. After discussing these organisms with the Downeast Institute (DEI) as well as the Department of Marine Resources (DMR), … Continue reading Tunicate Trouble
Cleaning the Seed Clams and Buckets
Procedure Make sure the pump is running and put on an apron and bootsTurn off 1 and ½ valves in both tanksOpen the valve that goes to the hoseCheck the water pressure on the hoseYou want enough pressure to spray the mud and clam poop through the mesh, but not too much pressure that you … Continue reading Cleaning the Seed Clams and Buckets
Seeding Our First Batch Of Clams
Last week, I culled all of our one-year-old clams that were around ¾ of an inch or larger and placed them in a separate bucket in the upweller. It was time for these clams to finally get in the mud. When clams grow to this ¾ inch size, they need to grow under pressure. If … Continue reading Seeding Our First Batch Of Clams
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
Feeding Time
After a long winter, the clams are finally ready to start feeding and growing again. During the winter, the clams were packed together in mesh bags, lying dormant in one of the upweller tanks in the lab. This past week, we cleaned out the second upweller tank and, once filled with sea water, transferred the clams from the mesh bags into five-gallon mesh-bottom buckets where they could spread out while still having access to a constant flow of water.
Clam Cookbook
Do you have a favorite clam recipe that you would be proud to share with others in town? Maybe a chowder recipe? A clam and sausage stew? Clam risotto or a dynamite clam spaghetti recipe? A luscious baked clams recipe? The Gouldsboro Shore project is putting together a cookbook of clam recipes to show off the skills and imagination of Gouldsboro's cooks. (Winter Harbor's cooks are welcome too!)