Here are some more photos from the clam harvest at Waretown.

Bruce Beverage Barnegat Bay Buddy

On Saturday during the clam harvest at Waretown, RCTB member Bruce Beverage was eagerly harvesting a variety of marine life. As the predator nets were dragged to shore Bruce was able to catch the live animals the were entangled in the nets and place them in a large transparent container. Several children and their parents were very intrigued to see the different form of life found in the bay.

Bruce is our fairs and festivals chairman and has attended most of the events for the last three years. He became much more interested in marine life found in the bay after hearing the questions asked by the public at those fairs. When he did not know the answer to a specific question he would go to his computer and “google” an answer. (Is google a verb). After he gathered a great deal of information he decided to put it all on a web site in order to share what he had learned with other interested people. The web site is called Barnegat Bay Shellfish. Check it out.

Waretown Clam Harvest Huge Success

The weather finally co-operated and over a dozen RCTB members made their way to our Waretown clam lease site on Saturday October 15th. The fall clam harvest begin about 9:30 am and lasted until a little past 12:30 pm. The predator nets were brought to shore. We then brought up over 18,000 clams planted in 2010. They will now be broadcast on undisclosed approved sites though out the Bay. Daniel Nee a reporter for the Brick Patch, an online local news outlet, was invited to observe the harvest and he was able to video our endeavors. To see the video click the this link

Kayak Raffle Huge Success

Our first kayak raffle was a huge success thanks to the efforts of Donna Franzoso and the generous donation of the kayak by the folks at Richie & Page Distributing, Ally Meehan, vice president of sales and Mike Desider, area sales manager. The winning raffle ticket was drawn at the annual Chowderfest last Sunday October 2. The lucky winner was Dave Della-Croce from Langhorne, PA. The winner for the highest individual ticket sales will be announced and the prize cooler will be presented at our next monthly meeting on October 18.

Busy Time For RCTB Members

The weekend of September 10-11 was a busy time for RCTB members with two festivals that are very popular happening on the same weekend.  The Annual Lavalette Heritage Day Festival was held on Saturday Sept. 10 and the Beach Plum Festival at Island Beach State Park was on Sunday Sept. 11.  Both proved to be lucrative fund raisers and a lot of fun for those members who attended.  Also on Monday Sept. 12 the oysters in the spat on shell tank at Cattus Island were finally taken to their permanent home on the oyster reef at Good Luck Point.  Check on video to see the men at work.

RCTB Takes 2nd Place at the Lacey Lights Boat Parade -- A Great time had by all!!

Thanks to an amazing effort by a team of RCTB volunteers, the Lacey Lights Boat Parade was a huge success for our organization. Here are photos from the event, as well as comments from several individuals who made RCTB's involvement in the parade such a success. Bob R., owner of the Inn at River's Edge Marina in Forked River and a RCTB member, hosted a dock-side viewing party of the parade which offered RCTB party-goers a front-row seat to the "Clam Boat". Enjoy these photos and congrats to RCTB! Thank you Wes for these awesome photos!


From Kathy:
Thanks to all who made it possible, Marty for decorations, Bob for the excellent party, dock space and cheering section , Jeff ("Capt Clambo" )and the "Clammers" who fearlessly braved the rough seas for this prestigious event! Special thanks to Bill Elmer for the generator, Gef for the giant clam, and John Howell for land support and kayak raffle sales. I found out last night we came in 2nd place and won a $250 gift certificate to the Captain Inn.

Woohoo the giant clam rocks the river!

From Rick:
What else can I say! Wish to hell I could have been there! This is why I love this organization. We all pull together. We all have a good time and we all contribute when we can. Generators, time, ideas, “party place”, cheering support. The Clam Rocks and so do the “Clamsters.”

From Gef: That was fabulous, everyone
That was fabulous, everyone did a great job, the boat looks very cool as does the clam!

RCTB Volunteers busy doing what they do best at the IBSP upweller and the Wooden Boat Show

RCTB Volunteers have been busy doing what they do best -- educating residents and visitors of the shore about shellfish ecology and Barnegat Bay. It's a time of year ripe with opportunities to do so.

Manny B. and Frank V. have reported back about the approximately 80+ visitors to the IBSP Upweller on the bayside in Seaside Park this past Monday, July 18. Every Monday at 1 pm during the summer, the volunteers there host an "open house" and speak with visitors about the nursery site. On this particular Monday, there were dozens of young students from the Hugh J. Boyd Elementary School's Summer Program of nearby Seaside Heights.

Volunteer Vic P. showed the students what a baby clam looks like under a microscope. Jeff S. and Rich C. kept a flow of curious children coming to the demonstration table.

Along with the 40 or so students from Seaside Heights, as many or more people came over to see the demonstration from the nearby fishing and crabbing pier. Other volunteers helping to teach the students and visitors about what goes on at the IBSP upweller were Clint L., Marty S., Dolores B., and Frank V.

It was a great teaching day and we were pleased that so many interested families and young people stopped by.

The previous Saturday, July 16, Charlie B. and Bruce B. were busy speaking to a constant flow of visitors to the RCTB exhibit at the Toms River Seaport Society's Wooden Boat Show. The RCTB exhibit was a popular one and we sold out of our "beach safes" hours before the event ended! Great work everyone!