Surfclams in the Headlines

Fishy Fridays

Weekly spotlight on fisheries science journal articles

 

Jeff Kopaska
AFS Executive Director
jkopaska@fisheries.org

Sorry for missing a week or two.  This is a busy time of year for AFS meetings.  I’m currently at the Southern Division meeting, and last week I was at a couple of chapter meetings and gave a seminar at SDSU (Go Jacks!).  It is great to be able to go and meet with fisheries people, it’s my favorite part of the job.  What is also really cool is when I get to read and hear about great fisheries work going on, and today’s paper ties a lot of things together.  There have been a number of news stories generated as a result of the publication of this paper about offshore aquaculture of surfclams. I will admit I knew nothing about surfclams prior to reading this paper.  But, I know that the US has a huge trade deficit regarding seafood; I know that Executive Order 14276 is about Restoring American Seafood Competitiveness;  I know that NOAA has recently identified Aquaculture Opportunity Areas; and I know that the Marine Aquaculture Research Act has recently been introduced in Congress.  That’s a lot of heavy stuff.  So, what about this paper?  The article provides a proof of concept regarding open ocean aquaculture of these surfclams. Climate change is affecting the viability of marine aquaculture in nearshore environments, so moving some marine aquaculture offshore helps mitigate the impact of temperature swings that are detrimental to certain species. AFS has long been supportive of sustainable marine aquaculture, and these paper comes at an important time, showing how science and policy can positively intersect.  Enjoy!

Offshore aquaculture of Atlantic surfclams Spisula solidissima: Growth, survival and feasibility