Category: Seminar Series

Perspectives of Life – past and present – on Point Judith Pond

Rhode Island author, Prentice Stout, will present perspectives of life – past and present – on Point Judith Pond. Join him on Wednesday, March 9th at the Kettle Pond Visitors Center in Charlestown, from 5:30PM-7:00PM. Refreshments will be served – Please rsvp to Azure@crc.uri.edu or 401-874-6197.

Prentice has devoted his entire career to teaching, filming and writing about nature. His travels have taken him and wife, Patty, from Antarctica to the Galapagos. However, his real love of place has always been Point Judith Pond, a spot he calls “A Place of Quiet Waters” which also serves as the title for his 2006 book. Prentice has served as an enthusiastic educator at Camp Fuller and greatly enjoys seeing young adults learn and thrive as they come to deeply understand the pond’s many assets and ecosystem.

Part of Rhode Island’s Coastal Salt Ponds and You: A Public Education Series.

Toxic Algae and Oyster Disease in Narragansett Bay Presentation on March 26th

Coastal State Discussion Series: Toxic Algae and Oyster Disease in Narragansett Bay

Rhode Island researchers discuss impacts of emerging algal species and marine disease that may impact the state’s seafood and water resources.

Two potential threats have emerged in Narragansett Bay waters that raise concern for both the health of Rhode Island waters and the overall state of the seafood industry.

Researchers David Borkman, marine plankton expert at the University of Rhode Island (URI) Graduate School of Oceanography, and Roxanna Smolowitz, shellfish and fish disease expert at Roger Williams University, will discuss findings of a new harmful algae species and an oyster parasite in the second event of the Coastal State Discussion Series on Wednesday, March 26, from 4 to 6 p.m. at the University Club on URI’s Kingston campus.

Borkman has been studying marine plankton in Narragansett Bay for several decades and has found a new species of algae in R.I. waters, the third observation of this species on the East Coast and the first in New England. He will discuss his findings and studies of this highly toxic species and what its presence may mean for the health of the Bay.

Smolowitz will discuss her work that looks at the transmission and impact of a new parasitic disease in the eastern oyster. This parasite has been linked to the death of oysters in Martha’s Vineyard, and its presence in Rhode Island shows a potential for significant infection of eastern oyster farms, impacting the state’s $2 million oyster industry.

This event is free and open to the public, but seating is limited, so please contact Meredith Haas at mmhaas@mail.uri.edu to reserve a place or for more information. The University Club is located on Upper College Road on URI’s Kingston Campus.

The Coastal State series is sponsored by Rhode Island Sea Grant and the URI Coastal Institute with the support of the URI Graduate School of Oceanography and the URI College of the Environment and Life Sciences. This lecture is also supported by the Rhode lsland Shellfish Management Plan.

Rhode Island Sea Grant is located at the URI Graduate School of Oceanography. For more information, visit seagrant.gso.uri.edu.

Paul Kennedy: Clamming Important Part of Ocean State Life

Our “Clamming 101” instructor, Paul Kennedy, writes about the lure of digging for clams in ecoRI’s Opinions, tying his personal experiences into Rhode Island’s shellfishing legacy.

From Paul’s editorial:

…recreational shellfishing has become a thread in Rhode Island’s historical fabric. It’s a part of our Ocean State heritage that can and must be protected and supported.

Done correctly, recreational shellfishing can be a boon to our tourism-dependent economy. The resource must be protected and awareness of its potential benefits must be heightened. I am happy to report that work on this has already begun.

 

Paul Kennedy lead our first Clamming 101 class on Point Judith Pond.

Paul Kennedy lead our first Clamming 101 class on Point Judith Pond.

SMP Summer Updates

On behalf of the Shellfish Management Plan Team, we hope you’ve been enjoying the summer and are having fun in this hot weather! It’s been a few months since our last SMP Stakeholder meeting in May, but we’ve been busy here preparing the SMP Chapters, hosting “How to Dig Clams” events, and having productive dialogues with many of you about how to maintain the tremendous momentum and interest in shellfish resources. We wanted to share the latest SMP news with you, so please check out the Summer 2013 SMP Updates.

Additionally, read our recent newsletter here.

As always, if you have any questions, concerns, or comments, email the SMP Team at smp@etal.uri.edu.

Azure_August 2nd

Project leader Azure Cygler, right, discusses the SMP with SMP supporters in East Greenwich.

RI clams: some are Notata and some are not

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Dale Leavitt

By Dale Leavitt
Associate Professor & Aquaculture Extension Specialist
Roger Williams University

Question: What’s up with the markings on some RI clams?

The normal “white” quahog that we usually see in the bay are referred to (in science speak) as the “alba” variety. Those with a reddish-brown pattern on their shell are referred to as “notata” variety. Both are normal, native clams that can be found naturally in RI waters. The only difference is that one has a different shell color than the other. It is a simple, natural single locus variation in the genetics of the clam.

Above, a Notata clam with its distinctivereddish-brown markings. Photo by Melissa Devine

Above, a notata clam with its distinctive reddish-brown markings. Photo by Melissa Devine

Normally, the natural population of wild “notata” clams (the ones with the reddish-brown zig-zag pattern on their shell) occur at about 1-2% in the wild. When we breed clams for enhancement, we increase the percentage of those clams by simply crossing notata clams with notata clams. In the wild this does not happen often, for the density of wild notata’s is so low. When we do it in the hatchery, the number of notata clams is about 75% of the total. So when we raise and release clams for enhancement, we can track our clams by counting how many notatas there are in the catch. Anything over 2% means that we are having success with our plantings. For example, the Shellfishermen’s Association planted about 500,000 notata clams in Green’s River (Potowomut) in (about) 2004. When the area opened for fishing three years later, the catch was about 25-30% notata’s, suggesting that our enhancement program was working well.

A large number of the clams that were caught in Galilee during the July 23rd Clamming Class were notatas and they were harvested from an area where the Rhode Island Shellfishermen’s Association have been planting enhancement clams for the past three or four years. So, again, the enhancement program is working. In this case, the fishermen are planting the nursery reared clams there specifically to help out the recreational harvest for the tourists and state residents.

The catch from our July 23rd Clamming Class--A notata clam with alba clams, and a crab for good measure.

The catch from our July 23rd Clamming Class–a few notata clams can be seen alongside the predominant alba clam. Photo by Melissa Devine

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