BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — Hundreds of thousands of clams were planted in the Indian River Lagoon in Brevard County Thursday.
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The overall goal is to improve the area’s water quality by restoring the lagoon’s natural clam population, according to the University of Florida’s Whitney laboratory for Marine Bioscience.
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“The biofiltration that they provide takes algae out of the water, allows sunlight to get through, and allows seagrass to grow,” UF Professor of Biogeochemistry Todd Osborne said. “That’s what we’re looking to get back.”
Osborne says the lagoon’s seagrass is fundamental to the entire system.
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“We’re losing manatees, turtles, and fish habitat. All those things that disappear, it’s all because our water quality has degraded.”
Launched in 2018, the Indian River Lagoon Clam Restoration Project began planting clams in the lagoon in 2019.
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The group says the 600,000 clams they planted Thursday brings the total number of claims they’ve released to more than 12 million since they started.
For more information on how to contribute to the clam restoration initiative, click here.
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