MARTIN COUNTY, Fla. — Martin County is working on a project to spawn clams, aimed at aiding seagrass growth in the St. Lucie Estuary.
The project could help make significant strides in water quality within the estuary. Martin County officials hope this will enable them to restore some of the seagrass that has been lost over the years due to Lake Okeechobee discharges.
As dark water continues to flow into the St. Lucie River, environmentalists and Martin County officials are working to reverse the damage that has been done. Their solution? Clams.
"There are these Lucinid clams, which are very small clams, that live in the soil and have bacteria that aid in digesting sulfides," John Maehl, Martin County's environmental resource administrator, said.
Maehl said those sulfides are toxic, which is why the county enlisted an aquaculturist to breed the clams.
"We've gotten to the point where we're actually producing new clams now," Maehl said. "We're excited to have those incorporated into new seagrass plantings that will help make those seagrass plantings more successful."
Water releases from Lake Okeechobee into the St. Lucie Estuary resumed over a month ago.
Mark Perry of the Florida Oceanographic Society stated that these discharges have devastated the seagrass beds.
"Right here inside the St. Lucie Inlet area, for example, we had about 400 acres of seagrass back in the 1970s," Perry said. "It's now dropped to less than 10 acres."
He explains that small fish and other marine life rely on seagrass, and without a sufficient source, they will be forced to relocate.
While Perry is confident that these clams will expedite seagrass restoration, he emphasizes that it may not be enough unless the U.S. Army Corps halts the discharges.
"We just have to be diligent at the same time to get the water quality right," Perry said. "(That means stopping) the discharges, stop the pollution."
In the meantime, Martin County is preparing to introduce these clams into the river so that new seagrass can be planted later on.
