Good day everyone,
On our first stop for the 2022 Riverview High School agriculture tour
was the FWC (Florida Fish and Wildlife) Marine Lab at Cedar Key, FL. There was
a kind lady named Leslie that gave us a tour and presentation on the clams and
oysters of Cedar Key. She works with FWC and the University of Florida IFAS
extension (INSTITUTE OF FOOD AND AGRICULTURAL SCIENCE) to improve breeding and
genetics in clams/ oysters. She talked
about the variety of clams in Cedar Key. Some examples of the variety of clams
she mentioned came from the East Coast of Florida and the Northeastern coast of
North America (Prince Edward Island/New England area). Besides clams, she also
talked about the oysters. She mentioned about oysters being a food resource for
sea life, a water filter for the ocean, and a shelter resource. Clams are only
harvested in Cedar Key because there are more clams than oysters and oysters
tend to have more bacteria that are not healthy for human consumption. In the
panhandle of Florida, oysters are harvested for commercial wholesale.
Ms.
Leslie teaching us about the nets that the clams are grown in as well as
educating us on the reproduction and varieties of clams and oysters.
The inside of a clam!
These
oysters are dead. They stick together to make a reef resource.
Next, we stopped by the Cedar Key Aquaculture Farms. They are the biggest clam business in the state of Florida.
The process of catching clams and raising them is by a clam bag. They use black
bags rather than light colored bags to prevent predators from consuming their
product. Some examples of predators that consume crustaceans (such as clams and
oysters) are stingrays, certain fish, and other invaders. They don’t actually
use an aquaponics system to raise and harvest their clams, they actually have a
water column in the Cedar Key area leased to them through one of the federal
government agencies. They have these special boats to give them the ability to
get into these shallow waters. After they catch these clams, they bring them
back to their processing facility. They sort out clams through this “assembly
line” to be able to make sure which clams are safe to eat for the consumer and
which ones aren’t safe. If the clam shell is closed, it’s not safe to eat.
Next, they go through to a refrigerator to head to the bagging process. After
they sort out the clams based on size, they put a bunch of the clams that are
the same size on the end of the machine. The machine forces the clams into one
of the four pipes. The pipes lead to the bags tied up to the end of each pipe.
After the clams are placed into the bag, the top of the bag is tied. After it’s
tied, it’s weighed. Finally, it’s sent to COSTCO. Yes, you heard that correctly! Costco is
their biggest buyer’s. These Clams are sent to Costco locations ranging from
Florida to New Jersey and from Florida to Louisiana. Make sure to stop by and
grab your clams at your local Costco!
Harvested clams in baskets.
Clams are sorted and bagged with this machine.
Beautiful Cedar Key!
Before I check out, I want to state
some fun facts.
1. Did you know that 100 million
clams are produced every year from Cedar Key?
2. Cedar key is the clam capital of
Florida.
This is Kieran checking out from the
Ag Tour 2022 blog,
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