Each spring, the New Shoreham Shellfish Commission reseeds the Great Salt Pond with some 35,000 quahogs of harvestable size to supplement the native clams so that both resident and visiting clammers can have a satisfactory experience. In the past, former members of the commission have likened this practice to holding an Easter egg hunt and they set a goal to make the GSP more sustainable.
One idea the commission has come up with is to move clams from deeper-water areas to shallower ones, especially from an area where the quahogs appear to have damage, or degradation, to their shells, either from acidic conditions or lack of aeration.
Vice-chair George Davis has taken the lead in contacting the R.I. Department of Environmental Management and the R.I. Coastal Resources Management Council to explore the possibility of performing the transplant, and on Tuesday, Nov. 17, he updated his fellow commission members on his research so far.
The agencies had some questions. Davis said the DEM asked if there was a map of the proposed source of the clams, and of their proposed destination. They also questioned whether there would be a disturbance to a resource or spawning sanctuary, although Davis said
