This past Saturday, Jan. 15, I attended a press conference at the Mar Vista Dockside Restaurant on Longboat Key for the All Clams on Deck clam restoration initiative hosted by restaurateur and Anna Maria environmental leader Ed Chiles.
This initiative aims to support ecosystem sustainability and resilience by attempting to restore imperiled seagrass meadows and planting native clam populations. The pilot project hopes to demonstrate that clams will improve water quality, reduce algal blooms and create healthier habitats while supporting commercial and recreational fisheries along Florida’s Gulf coast. Its focus is two-fold, including a way for clam farmers’ products to be used for restoration purposes when water quality events, including red tide, prevent them from selling their products for human consumption.
This project will focus on restoration initiatives that, over the pilot project period of 3-5 years, will provide the research and proof of concept needed to support the use of bivalves for reducing nutrient loading. The innovative approach aims to fund critical science that can be applied to large-scale water quality improvements and inform ongoing efforts to restore and protect estuarine ecosystems. Supporters point to the sobering note that in 2021, more than 1,100 manatees perished – more than twice the number that typically die annually. A big contributor to this year’s mortality has been starvation from lack of sufficient seagrass. These critical seagrass beds have been declining statewide due to degraded water quality in Florida’s bays and estuaries.
The organization’s website points out that fishing, tourism and recreation on Florida’s Gulf coast supports 304,000 jobs and a $17.5 billion economy. Looking statewide, about 47% of the economy is reliant on coastal tourism, generating significant tax dollars that fund a full continuum of public infrastructure, schools, roads, health and community services that in turn are essential for keeping the region’s economy humming. The continued health and prosperity of the region is at serious risk from incidents like the release of 215 million gallons of phosphoric acid-contaminated water from Piney Point into the Gulf on April 20, 2021. Unfortunately, that was just one of many insults that create dangerous public health risks and portend an economic crisis that threatens the “golden goose” of tourism on Florida’s shores, and specifically in the Gulf region.
Officials attending the event included Florida State Rep. Will Robinson and Florida Sen. Jim Boyd. Also in attendance were Manatee County Administrator Scott Hopes, Longboat Key Mayor Ken Schneider and Vice Mayor Mike Haycock as well as Curt Hemme, owner and managing director of Bay Shellfish Company in Terra Ceia, and other stakeholders. For more information visit All Clams on Deck.
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