Congressman Visits Shellfish in the Classroom

On Thursday May 19 Congressman Jon Runyan paid a visit to Harrington Middle School in Mt. Laurel, New Jersey to observe the Shellfish in the Classroom project that is in progress in Ms. Maureen Barrett's science room. Ms. Barrett, who was named the environmental educator of the year by the Alliance for New Jersey Environmental Education, and her students have been growing baby oysters in six two and half gallon tanks since February. Wes Dalzell and Frank Vives initially visited Ms. Barrett's environmental club in October and presented the idea of growing shellfish in the classroom. The students enthusiastically responded and in February the RCTB volunteers returned with 60 ten month old oysters.
Ten oysters were placed in each tank and different amounts of algae were fed to the various tanks. The students were responsible for maintaining the proper environment, checking the temperature and salinity of the water in the tank daily and measuring the size of the oysters weekly to determine growth.
The students demonstrated the knowledge they have gained by presenting the visitors with an outstanding power point presentation and their ability to explain what they are leaning.
Congressman Runyan spent over an hour in the classroom and was very impressed with the degree of knowledge the children exhibited and the value of the Shellfish in the Classroom project.

RCTB Awared Two Grants

Phil Leonig and Jack Duggan wrote a grant proposal for funding from the Trust for Public Lands. They were able to receive a grant for $2000.00 which will be used to fund their shellfish restoration project.
Cara Musico and Wes Dalzell gave a presentation of our on going “Shellfish in the Classroom Program”at the Ocean County Curriculum Conference that was sponsored by the Barnegat Bay Partnership. As a result of that presentation RCTB was awarded a $1000.00 grant to be used for supplies and equipment that will be needed to expand the program to more schools in the fall.

IBSP Upweller Up and Running

On Saturday April 30th Manny Brito and his crew cleaned two Taylor floats that overwintered oysters at the Island Beach State Park upweller site. They were able to begin the process of opening the upweller for the 2011 season. On Monday the opening was completed and 2010 oysters were measured and counted. Approximately 9000 oysters with the average size of 47ml and the total volume of 16670 ml were divided into 5 silos. Three other silos contain larger and older oyster, spat on shell oysters and even some clams. Regular weekly cleaning will be the same time and day as in the past, Monday at 1:00 pm.
The Cattus Island upweller has been approved and the crew will begin its construction in the near future. Also the Mantaloking Yacht Club crew will be opening their upweller some time before the first of June. It is our hope that some of the new class members will join one or more of the three northern bay upweller teams.