Soft-Shell Clam (Mya Arenaria) Distribution and Abundance at Selected Sites in the Great Bay Estuary, New Hampshire. A Final Report to the New Hampshire Estuaries Project

摘要

Previous surveys (1996 to 2002) provided distribution and abundance data for soft-shell clam (Mya arenaria) populations in ten areas of the Great Bay and Piscataqua River estuaries identified as potentially good clam habitat. The present study was designed to complete the overall survey by sampling six remaining areas: Weeks Point, Brackett's Point, Squamscott River mouth, Moody Point, Herods Cove, and Upper Little Bay (western shore). The objectives of the present project were to: (1) visually inspect the six study areas for the general distribution of sediment types and soft-shell clams, (2) quantitatively sample the six areas to determine densities of soft-shell clams, (3) produce GIS maps based on the survey data, and (4) assess clam distributions considering data from the present study and previous research.