No, this post is not about well-educated clams ~ excuse me, this is Rhode Island ~ quahogs. I am looking at an Ocean State Aquaculture Association (OSAA) brochure I picked up at Agriculture Day at the State House in May entitled "Enjoy Rhode Island Cultured Shellfish." These shellfish include the oysters, mussels, and hard-shell clams (we call them quahogs) raised on Rhode Island's farms that are actually IN the bay.
The brochure lists nine OSAA member farms, most of which may give tours if you request. I only found websites for three of these farms:
- Shellfish for You LLC in Westerly
- East Matunuck Oysters
- Narragansett Oysters
- Moonstone Oysters
- Rome Point Oysters
- Salt Water Farms, North Kingston
- Aquidneck Oyster Company, Warren & Portsmouth
- Seapowet Shellfish LLC, Portsmouth
- Sakonnet Oyster Co. Inc. in Tiverton
Many of these farms are listed on the Farm Fresh RI website, along with some other shellfish farms.
The Oyster farmers also gave me another brochure from the East Coast Shellfish Growers Association, "Shellfish Aquaculture is GOOD for the Environment!" I had thought of limiting The Providential Gardener to the shoreline, but the oystermen convinced me that their shellfish aquaculture is part of our shared Garden. Among the contributions of aquaculture are:
- Shellfish clean the water by filter feeding
- Shellfish remove nitrogen
- Shellfish aquaculture stimulates diversity
- Shellfish farming is sustainable
I've heard that boaters and/or shore residents can volunteer to grow seed oysters off their boats and moorings for the summer. At least this happened last year when 18 volunteers participated in an OGRE (Oyster Gardening for Restoration and Enhancement) project. OGRE is connected with Roger Williams University. Call 401-254-3707 or email to find out what is going on with OGRE this year. According to a RI Real Estate blog posting from April 10, 2007 (the author is a good friend of an organizer of this project), another 50 volunteers may be growing juvenile oysters this summer. A brief summary of the RI-OGRE juvenile oyster program is on page 9 of the Coastal and Estuary Habitat Restoration and Trust Fund report.
In another recent post, I wrote about the resources of RIGIS, the Rhode Island's Geographic Information System. Here are useful applications of GIS and data: the Rhode Island's Commercial and Recreational Fisheries maps and Narragansett Bay data and resources.
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