Department of Fish and Game (DFG) Commissioner Mary Griffin and biologists from the agency’s Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) joined youth volunteers from local environmental non-profit groups on the clam flats of Boston’s Thompson Island to help enhance the wild soft shell clam population in Boston Harbor.
“Soft shell clams have been declining for two decades in Boston Harbor and this public-private partnership is designed to restore the fishery that supports jobs in the shellfish industry while benefiting the harbor’s ecosystems,” said Commissioner Griffin in late June.
“We are extremely grateful to the volunteers and organizations who are working with us to restore the harbor’s soft shell clam resource,” added Griffin.
Volunteers from the Thompson Island Outward Bound Program, the Thompson Island Green Ambassadors, the Hyde Park and Mystic River Green Teams, the National Park Service, Save the Harbor/Save the Bay, and Salem State University’s Northeast Massachusetts Aquaculture Center assisted DMF in seeding clams on Thompson Island. Other partners include the cities of Boston and Quincy, the towns of Hingham, Hull, Weymouth, Winthrop, and Revere, commercial harvesters, area harbormasters and shellfish constables.
“Due to the hard work of DMF staff and dedication of this cooperative group, over six million seed clams have been planted in almost four hundred enhancement plots in communities around Boston Harbor in the last six years,” said DMF Director Paul Diodati.
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