Hand clam culture: A commercial success story in Florida

摘要

The cultured hard clam industry represents a recent success story for commercial aquaculture in Florida. The development of the cultured hard clam industry began on the east coast of Florida in the Indian River Lagoon region during the 1970s. However,standardization of grow-out methods occurred in the late 1980s. Rapid expansion by the fledgling commercial industry occurred during the early 1990s after additional lease sites were developed on the west coast of north-central Florida. The water quality and benthic habitat offered a perfect match for clam farming. And, because changes in marine fishing regulations put many nearshore fishermen out of work, federal and state-funded job retraining programs oriented toward displaced commercial fishermen provided an unprecedented jump-start to this new industry. These timely training programs provided potential hard clam growers with instruction in production, marketing and business management aspects of the hard clam culture process. The state of Florida's Cooperative Extension Program also provided the new industry with the technical support needed to ensure a steady growth in the Florida cultured hard clam industry.