Brick Township Mayor Stephen Acropolis welcomed about 1 million new residents to Brick this week.  On September 2, Mayor Acropolis visited the brand new clam nursery at Traders Cove Marina and Park and “flipped the switch” to start the Barnegat Bay water, filled with nutrients, flowing over these baby filter feeders.

The nursery, properly called a FLUPSY, or floating upweller system, was put in place by the Barnegat Bay Shellfish Restoration Program (BBSRP) and ReCLam the Bay.  Financial assistance came from The American Littoral Society with funds from a NOAA – Restore America’s Estuaries (RAE) grant. Ocean County employees assisted in both the construction and positioning of the FLUPSY.

“The Barnegat Bay is vitally important to the everyday life of our community and has been throughout our history,” said Mayor Acropolis.  “We are thrilled that we are able to do our part in helping protect and preserve the Bay.”

The public is encouraged to visit the new nursery and park, especially on Monday afternoons at 1 p.m.  Shellfish Gardeners, trained by Rutgers Cooperative Extension through the Shellfish Restoration Program, and members of ReClam the Bay will be working with the clams and oyster at that time and can answer any question and point out what the residents and visitors to Ocean County can do to help Barnegat Bay.

The FLUPSY has two main purposes: it increases the flow of nutrient laden bay water past the clams and oyster and it at the same time protects the babies from predators, like crabs and sea stars.  After a summer in the nursery the then much larger clams will be placed in the bay under protective nets for one more year of growth.  At the end of the second year these babies will be “freed” and distributed around Barnegat Bay.  This year ReCLam the Bay plans on growing over 2.5 million clams and about three quarters of a million baby oysters.

Traders Cove Marina and Park is located on the Barnegat Bay.  Brick Township preserved the site from residential development in 2005.  Since then, the Township has received over $4.4 million in Green Acres funding for the acquisition and development of the site.

“We preserved Traders Cove to protect the Barnegat Bay and provide residents with waterfront access,” said Mayor Acropolis.  “This partnership with ReClam the Bay will go a long way towards preserving the Bay and educating the public about our ecosystem.”

The Barnegat Bay Shellfish Restoration Program is always looking for volunteers to assist at the FLUPSY and of course would welcome anyone from the northern part of the bay to participate in the Shellfish Gardner course offered by Rutgers Cooperative Extension which takes place in the winter months and help with the many other activities in this area year round.

The clams like to live in the sand and mud bottom of the bay.  The oysters prefer a hard shell bottom and BBSRP, in cooperation with various State agencies have built an oyster reef with two barge loads of shells which was brought to the bay last December.

BBSRP and ReClam the Bay uses these clams and oysters, which one might say act like a “canary in a coal mine”, as an attraction and teaching tool. The goal is get the public involved with living creatures so that everyday citizens will realize that need to help improve the water quality that the shellfish depend on to survive. People can visit the some of 11 nurseries around the bay and learn, first hand, about the problems the bay faces and what they can do to improve it.

The FLUPSY at Traders Cove Marina and Park is the newest of the nurseries, but it is also the one furthest north in Barnegat Bay.  It is important to the Shellfish Restoration Program to be able to follow the growth of these animals and compare their progress with the other locations around the bay.

According to Rick Bushnell, volunteer president of ReClam the Bay. “When people see something the size of a grain of sand grow to a small but recognizable clam, in a few weeks they realize that there are living things in the bay. People of all ages want to help the baby creatures. I know it sounds a little crazy but seeing the reaction over the past 3 years proves that people care. The home run is when a kid asks mom or dad, why do we need to put fertilizer on the grass if it makes the clams sick?” Bushnell goes on to say that when kids ask those kinds of questions he knows that ReClam the Bay volunteers are doing a good job teaching about the nitrogen problem (that comes from too much fertilizer among other things) and that the kids get it.

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