MELBOURNE, Fla. — On Friday, the Indian River Lagoon Clam Restoration Project, the Coastal Conservation Association Florida, FWC, and the University of Florida Whitney Lab released 6 million baby clams into the lagoon.
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They were delivered to their Melbourne Beach home with a specialized drone.
The clams were spawned from a handful of the hardiest specimens researchers could find in the lagoon.
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Like oysters, clams help filter out excess nutrients improving water clarity which supports the growth of vital seagrasses.
Captain Blair Wiggins with the IRL Clam Restoration Project told us, decades ago the clam industry removed approximately 9.2 billion clams from the lagoon devastating the population.
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Over the next year, the “Billion Clam Initiative” aims to return one billon clams to the lagoon.
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