RESTOCKING STONINGTON'S RECREATIONAL
SHELLFISH BEDS
The Stonington
Shellfish Commission makes every effort to keep the recreational shellfish beds
stocked with enough clams for recreational harvesters. In previous years, we
purchased from a large Connecticut seafood wholesaler, which harvested shellfish
from central and western Long Island Sound and trucked them to the Noank
Aquaculture Co-Op. Stonington commercial oyster growers, Commission members, and
community
volunteers loaded the clams on boats and took them to the shellfish beds for
distribution. In recent years, we have been unable to obtain large numbers of
clams from wholesalers, so we made arrangement with local commercial
shellfishermen to provide clams for transplanting. Unfortunately, this has
resulted in a decline in the number of clams we receive. We will continue to
seek additional sources for clams to transplant.
In 2018, the Shellfish
Commission began stocking conditionally
approved
Area A with
oysters received from Stonington's commercial oyster growers as payment for
their use of Town of Stonington shellfish grounds. In the fall of 2019, the
Shellfish Commission transpanted thousands of market-ready oysters into Area A.
In addition, we transpanted a few thousand juvenile oysters that will be ready
to harvest in the summer of 2020. All restocking is carried out under permits from the
Connecticut Department of Agriculture/Bureau of Aquaculture.