Efforts to Bring Back the Clams to Barnegat Bay

They filter 50 gallons of water a day, they are a vibrant part of the ecosystem, and many people find them delicious.

Oysters once thrived in the Barnegat Bay, and now in its sixth year ReClam the Bay continues to look at replenishing the shellfish population: oysters and of course clams.

ReClam the Bay, a nonprofit grassroots organization dedicated to the restoration and preservation of shellfish in the Barnegat Bay, hosted a meeting that was open to the public at Rutgers Cooperative Extension in Toms River on Tuesday night.

In conjunction with the Barnegat Bay Shellfish Restoration program, ReClam the Bay works to educate people about shellfish like oysters and clams, and their effect on the Barnegat Bay. 

For example, oysters in the Barnegat Bay filter about 50 gallons of water every day.  They clean the water by absorbing things like nitrogen, and then dispose of it by excreting it from a small tube on their bodies, which leaves sediment on the bay floor.

How do the ReClam volunteers repopulate the bay with shellfish?  With the strategic placement of tanks called upwellers all along the Barnegat Bay, such as in Tuckerton and Seaside Park, volunteers are able to raise more than 100,000 clams and oysters every year in each location, group officials said. 

The clams are raised in these upwellers between July and October, when they are no bigger than a few millimeters.  After October, they are left in the upwellers over the winter, protected from the elements until the following spring, when they are large enough to be released in a designated area to start living in their natural environment by filter feeding.

It’s not strictly about restoring the clam and oyster population in the bay for this volunteer organization, though.  “It’s really about the education,” ReClam the Bay president Rick Bushnell said.

The group extends education about the Barnegat Bay and the issues plaguing it beyond its own volunteer program and reaches out to local schools in the area to educate students who use the bay, or even just live near it. 

With their student education program, “Shellfish in the Classroom,” ReClam the Bay gives students a chance to get involved in their activities by providing hands-on experience learning about and actually growing shellfish right in their classrooms.

According to the nonprofit group’s website, the fact that oysters and clams are filter feeders can have a positive impact on the nitrogen levels in the bay. 

However, with all the fertilizer runoff that hits the bay, the excess nitrogen builds up so much algae that the shellfish can’t keep up. 

“The Barnegat Bay is the number one environmental issue for Gov. Christie,” said Dr. Mike Kennish, one of the scientists who help run the educational portions of the program.  

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection has a comprehensive plan of action for the bay, and much of what they are doing for the bay coincides with ReClam the Bay’s projects. 

One of the items on the DEP’s agenda is to reduce nutrient pollution from fertilizer, which in turn would help oysters and clams continue to control algae levels and ultimately thrive in the bay.

ReClam the Bay is always looking for new volunteers who want to take part.  The next meeting is on Tuesday, May 3 at 7 p.m. at the Rutgers Cooperative Extension Center of Ocean County on Whitesville Road. 

For more information on the courses, visit reclamthebay.org or call them at (732 )349-1152 between 9 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.