Keeping Clams Clean: Tracking microbial contamination of clam flats

Abstract

Leveraging molecular techniques to track fecal coliform source and clearance rates

In 2019, the Massachusetts soft-shell clam fishery was valued at US$6.5M. However, in Plum Island Sound, MA, which supports one of the largest soft-shell clam fisheries in the United States, harvest decreased from 1.2 million pounds of clams in 2019 to only 521K pounds of clams in 2023. This is partly because 2023 was an anomalously wet year and thus the fishing beds were conditionally closed for more days.

Over the course of several months, researchers associated with the Plum Island Ecosystems (PIE) Long-Term Ecological Research program, initiated engagement with the shellfishers in Plum Island Sound, to identify areas of intersecting interests between the researchers and the fishers. A key outcome of that work was a desire on the part of the fishers for new information to inform the conditional shellfish bed closures and to better understand the source of the microbial contamination that causes the bed closures. The rationale for this proposal is motivated by the need to addresses these two specific concerns. Specifically, we will use a combination of public databases, community science collected source pools, and environmental samples collected in partnership with the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF), to assess sources and turnover times of microbial fecal contamination in Plum Island Sound, MA.