New shellfish nursery set up in Normandy Beach

BRICK TOWNSHIP — A new upweller location for ReClam the Bay opened up recently at the Normandy Beach Improvement Association, 541 Broad Ave., and will have a crew of volunteers there every Wednesday at 10:30 a.m.

An upweller is a shellfish nursery, and is a 4 feet by 10 feet tank that contains 10 or 12 siloes with mesh bottoms where the baby shellfish are placed. Water from Barnegat Bay is pumped into the upweller and the shellfish feed on phytoplankton and grow protected from natural predators.

Volunteers help with core activities such as projects, growing shellfish, planting shellfish and education and outreach.

Frank Vives of ReClam the Bay told The Ocean Star, “The clam and oyster seed is obtained in July and is approximately two to three millimeters in length. By October they will be 20 millimeters.”

According to Vives, at the end of the season (in mid October) the clams are placed in a tank that is floating in the bay and are overwintered. The following year they are replaced in the upwellers and grow until they reach adult size.

“They are then planted in the bay under the direction of the DEP (department of environmental protection). Oysters, on the other hand, are taken to living shorelines and added to the breakwaters,” said Vives.

Prior to this year, ReClam the Bay had 12 working upwellers throughout the bay region, according to Vives. Six are on Long Beach Island, two on the mainland near Waretown and four in the northern area (Island Beach State Park marina, Trader’s Cove marina in Brick, Cattus Island County Park in Toms River and Mantoloking Yacht Club). Normandy Beach is now the fifth upweller in the northern area.

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