Investigator: Leslie Sturmer and Natalie Anderson, UF/IFAS Shellfish Aquaculture Extension
Objectives: By monitoring food availability, using chlorophyll as a proxy, in addition to increasing monitoring of water temperature and salinity at Cedar Key leases, insight on basic but key relationships between environmental factors and survival and health of cultured clams may be established. The plan adds chlorophyll a and phycoerythrin sensors to existing monitoring equipment to assess phytoplankton concentrations. Additional temperature and conductivity loggers will be deployed at the Gulf Jackson and Pelican Reef AUZs expanding thermal and salinity surveillance. HOBO temperature loggers will also be provided to growers at each AUZ to record bottom temperatures inside clam bags. Growers will be provided with access to real-time and archived data via the website, https://shellfish.ifas.ufl.edu/water-quality-monitoring/.
