Increased demand for live and processed clams has been accompanied by a decreased supply of wild clams. The surf clam Spisula solidissima was utilized extensively for processed clam products until overfishing reduced the surf clam populations and harvests. Research has indicated that surf clams can be produced in land-based culture systems in one growing season, for use in markets currently supplied by slower growing hard or soft-shell clams. Inexpensive supplemental feeds improve the predicted profitability of hard clam and oyster seed production, by increasing growth rates. It is proposed that supplemental feeds be developed for juvenile surf clams, to lower the cost and decrease the time required to produce seed surf clams for innovative growout systems. Success of this project would allow development of a new source of surf clams for the live and processed clam markets, and would demonstrate the feasibility of using non-algal supplements in surf clam diets. Additionally, the feeds and methods developed in this project could accelerate the growth of juveniles of other bivalve species.The potential commercial application as described by the awardee: The successful acceleration of the growth of the surf clam could reduce the cost of seed production, while providing a seed supply for innovative grow-out systems. Methods developed for use of inexpensive non-algal supplements could be extended to use with other bivalve species. The applicaton of these methods could provide a large new supply of clams.
