Thursday, January 20, 2011

First Monthly Meeting

The first monthly meeting of ReClam the Bay took place on Jan. 18, at the Cooperative Extension building in Toms River. The education committee meeting preceded the regular meeting and the committee was pleased to see 12 volunteers who expressed interest in helping with the education mission.

Another 20 people attended the regular meeting, Rick gave an overview of our 2010 growing season. He went over the various growth data charts from some selected upwellers and compared the growth rates of various hatcheries and upwellers. He stated that we are improving our data collection and that we will have a meeting in the spring before this growing season begins to set up uniform procedures for all upwellers. If you want to see all we accomplished in 2010 see the Annual Report

Wes presented a report on the various educational outreach activities that are ongoing, including
the speakers presentations to adults as well as the “shellfish in the classroom” and “Junior Shellfish Gardeners” programs.

Cara reported on the meetings she has attended with the Barnegat Bay Partnership and how recent events have been very encouraging. The signing of several bills, including the strict use of lawn fertilizer, the soil restoration bill and the storm basin repair bill are certainly steps in the right direction concerning the future health of the bay. She also gave a brief overview of the governor's comprehensive ten point plan of action.

Donna Managed to get Mike DeSider from Ritchie & Page Distributor Company to donate a great looking single person RED kayak and brought it to the meeting. We plan to bring it to fairs and festivals and sell raffle tickets this year.