\n\t\t\t\t\t\tConservation groups and researchers in Florida\u2019s Indian River Lagoon say they have surpassed a major milestone in a yearslong effort to restore one of the state\u2019s most ecologically important estuaries, with more than 100 million clams now returned to the waterway.On Wednesday morning, Coastal Conservation Association Florida and Phillips Infrastructure deployed 3.5 million clams by drone into the lagoon near Port St. John, pushing the restoration project past the 100-million mark as part of the organization\u2019s Billion Clam Initiative.The effort is a partnership between the Coastal Conservation Association Florida, Capt. Blair Wiggins, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the University of Florida Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience.The goal is to restore water quality and habitat in the Indian River Lagoon by using clams as natural filters to remove pollutants, improve seagrass growth, and support marine life.\u201cSo we started this almost 10 years ago and the goal is to reach 1 billion but 100 million milestone is incredible and we\u2019ve made it there today,\u201d Frank Gidus said.The lagoon, which stretches along Florida\u2019s east coast, was once home to vast clam populations. According to Gidus, the ecosystem has struggled to recover after decades of commercial harvesting, storms, and declining water quality.\u201cBack in the ’90s, this area had over 10 billion clams,\u201d Gidus said. \u201cMost of the clams were taken commercially and then as a result, we\u2019ve had some storms and some weather and the lagoon has not been able to recover.\u201dResearchers and conservationists say clams play a critical role in maintaining healthy waterways because they continuously filter water as they feed.\u201cWhat clams do? They\u2019re just like oysters. Everybody knows oysters filter water,\u201d Wiggins said. \u201cEven when their bellies get full, they\u2019re still filtering.\u201dStudies cited by the project partners show clams can remove nitrogen and sediment from coastal waters, helping improve clarity and overall habitat conditions. Organizers say early signs suggest the restoration work is already making a difference.\u201cIt\u2019s amazing \u2014 the water quality is already showing signs of recovery,\u201d Gidus said. \u201cSome clams that we put in five or six years ago are spawning. It\u2019s definitely working.\u201dThe project uses drone technology to distribute the shellfish in targeted areas throughout the lagoon, a method organizers say improves survival rates and placement accuracy.\u201cWe\u2019re able to use the drone to place the clams exactly where we want with the exact density and the exact location,\u201d Gidus said. \u201cThis technology has been wonderful for this project.\u201dAccording to organizers, a mature clam can filter up to 20 to 25 gallons of water per day.\u201cIt is really a dream come true,\u201d Gidus said. \u201cYou multiply that by 1 billion \u2014 that\u2019s a lot of water being filtered.\u201dWiggins, who has spent decades fishing the lagoon, said the restoration effort represents hope for a waterway he watched decline over much of his lifetime.\u201cDays like today are awesome,\u201d Wiggins said. \u201cWhen I was a fishing guide right here, I saw millions of clams come out of the river and I was screaming my head off. I couldn\u2019t do anything about it then, but I\u2019m glad it\u2019s finally come to fruition now that the clams are finally getting repopulated in the river.\u201dWiggins said he does not expect the lagoon to fully return to the pristine condition he remembers from childhood in the early 1970s, but believes restoring filter feeders such as clams and oysters could help the ecosystem sustain itself again.\u201cIf we can get back to where it\u2019s taking care of itself \u2014 the clams are filtering and we\u2019re getting our oysters back, the horseshoe crabs, the seagrass, all the fish \u2014 we might just have a chance of getting it back to close to what it was,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd if we can even get it close, it\u2019s been a paradise here my entire life.\u201d\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tBREVARD COUNTY, Fla. \u2014 \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Conservation groups and researchers in Florida\u2019s Indian River Lagoon say they have surpassed a major milestone in a yearslong effort to restore one of the state\u2019s most ecologically important estuaries, with more than 100 million clams now returned to the waterway.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday morning, Coastal Conservation Association Florida and Phillips Infrastructure deployed 3.5 million clams by drone into the lagoon near Port St. John, pushing the restoration project past the 100-million mark as part of the organization\u2019s Billion Clam Initiative.<\/p>\n
The effort is a partnership between the Coastal Conservation Association Florida, Capt. Blair Wiggins, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the University of Florida Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience.<\/p>\n
The goal is to restore water quality and habitat in the Indian River Lagoon by using clams as natural filters to remove pollutants, improve seagrass growth, and support marine life.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo we started this almost 10 years ago and the goal is to reach 1 billion but 100 million milestone is incredible and we\u2019ve made it there today,\u201d Frank Gidus said.<\/p>\n
The lagoon, which stretches along Florida\u2019s east coast, was once home to vast clam populations. According to Gidus, the ecosystem has struggled to recover after decades of commercial harvesting, storms, and declining water quality.<\/p>\n
\u201cBack in the ’90s, this area had over 10 billion clams,\u201d Gidus said. \u201cMost of the clams were taken commercially and then as a result, we\u2019ve had some storms and some weather and the lagoon has not been able to recover.\u201d<\/p>\n
Researchers and conservationists say clams play a critical role in maintaining healthy waterways because they continuously filter water as they feed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat clams do? They\u2019re just like oysters. Everybody knows oysters filter water,\u201d Wiggins said. \u201cEven when their bellies get full, they\u2019re still filtering.\u201d<\/p>\n
Studies cited by the project partners show clams can remove nitrogen and sediment from coastal waters, helping improve clarity and overall habitat conditions. Organizers say early signs suggest the restoration work is already making a difference.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s amazing \u2014 the water quality is already showing signs of recovery,\u201d Gidus said. \u201cSome clams that we put in five or six years ago are spawning. It\u2019s definitely working.\u201d<\/p>\n
The project uses drone technology to distribute the shellfish in targeted areas throughout the lagoon, a method organizers say improves survival rates and placement accuracy.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re able to use the drone to place the clams exactly where we want with the exact density and the exact location,\u201d Gidus said. \u201cThis technology has been wonderful for this project.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to organizers, a mature clam can filter up to 20 to 25 gallons of water per day.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is really a dream come true,\u201d Gidus said. \u201cYou multiply that by 1 billion \u2014 that\u2019s a lot of water being filtered.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wiggins, who has spent decades fishing the lagoon, said the restoration effort represents hope for a waterway he watched decline over much of his lifetime.<\/p>\n
\u201cDays like today are awesome,\u201d Wiggins said. \u201cWhen I was a fishing guide right here, I saw millions of clams come out of the river and I was screaming my head off. I couldn\u2019t do anything about it then, but I\u2019m glad it\u2019s finally come to fruition now that the clams are finally getting repopulated in the river.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wiggins said he does not expect the lagoon to fully return to the pristine condition he remembers from childhood in the early 1970s, but believes restoring filter feeders such as clams and oysters could help the ecosystem sustain itself again.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we can get back to where it\u2019s taking care of itself \u2014 the clams are filtering and we\u2019re getting our oysters back, the horseshoe crabs, the seagrass, all the fish \u2014 we might just have a chance of getting it back to close to what it was,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd if we can even get it close, it\u2019s been a paradise here my entire life.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Conservation groups and researchers in Florida\u2019s Indian River Lagoon say they have surpassed a major milestone in a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":672228,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[293251,293248,293253,38011,293249,2808,293250,21988,21982,21943,293252,5496,79,282,11141,134927,201],"class_list":["post-672227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-blair-wiggins","tag-clam","tag-coastal-conservation-association-florida","tag-drone","tag-drone-dropped-clams","tag-florida","tag-frank-gidus","tag-indian-river-lagoon","tag-lagoon","tag-organizer","tag-project-partner","tag-researcher","tag-science","tag-water","tag-water-quality","tag-waterway","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=672227"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672227\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/672228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=672227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=672227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=672227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}