Hold Baby Clams As Traders Cove Clam Nursery Opens July 5 In Brick

Brick, NJ -- ReClam the Bay will christen its newest clam and oyster nursery with the help of the Brick Township community on July 5 at Traders Cove Municipal Park, officials announced.

The nursery and its Giant Clam, a joint project of ReClam the Bay, the Township of Brick, educators in the Brick Township Schools, and residents who saw a project good for their community and joined it, will be officially unveiled at a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 7 p.m., said Charlie Brandt, spokesman for ReClam the Bay.

"They say it takes a village or sometimes a town to complete a major task in record time, and that is what was done," Brandt said.

The township also plans to show "The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie" for a family night at the movies.

The Traders Cove Nursery is the newest of 10 nurseries that surround Barnegat Bay, growing clams and oysters, raised protected from predators, and later released in Barnegat Bay to help protect its water quality.

The new baby clam and oyster nursery will be available for its first visitors at the event, Brandt said. Shellfish gardeners trained by the Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Ocean County will be on hand to help visitors hold and learn from baby clams and oysters.

The Giant Clam that will be unveiled is one of about 35 surrounding the bay, Brandt said. It is part of the Clam Trail Map, an environmental treasure hunt that has won the Governor's Award for Environmental Tourism.

This newest Giant Clam is special, Brandt said. It was designed and painted by art students at Brick Township High School and Brick Memorial High School, with each school painting half of the clam.

"Like a clam, Brick Township has two equal halves when it comes to high schools. While each half would represent their school, both would show the relationship of their school to Barnegat Bay," Brandt said. A committee of judges headed by Mayor John G. Ducey each picked their favorite from three designs for each school, he said. The winning designs were painted by the art clubs, and the Giant Clam went into hiding, he said.

"Only a few of the ReClam The Bay members who moved the clam have had a preview of it special beauty," Brandt said, adding that the project wouldn't have been possible without the assistance of the Brick Board of Education; Jennifer Joseph, principal of Brick Memorial High School; Dennis Filippone, principal of Brick Township High School, and the art clubs under the guidance of Jude Harzer and Fred "FJ" Lucchetti.

"Of course thanks go out to the employees of Brick Township, both in the office and marina," he said

The clam pedestal is surrounded by a native plant garden that was developed with the help of Ann Earon, a master gardener from Barnegat, and Larry Tencza, a landscape architect from Spring Lake, who just happened to be passing by and wanted to help by creating a design. Cicconi Farms in Jackson Township either had in stock or reached out to obtain all the desired native plants, Brandt said.

For the balance of the summer, shellfish gardeners will be available each Wednesday at 10 a.m. for visitors to visit the babies and watch them grow. Those interested can also join in with ReClam The Bay to help care for the approximately 100,000 clams that will be in the nursery.

"Just show up and say you want to help," Brandt said.

(Lou Fellner, Clint Lehman and Frank Vives complete the planting of native plants around the pedestal that will be the home of the newest “Giant Clam” on the Clam Trail. Photo courtesy of ReClam the Bay)