Fair Weather and Light Catches Start the 2022 Atlantic Clam Survey

September 16, 2022

It’s August, and Christine Kircun is again blogging from the F/V E.S.S. Pursuit.

Survey |

New England/Mid-Atlantic

A color image taken on a sunny day from the deck of a commercial clam vessel. The lower half of the image shows the deck, the twin dredges mounted to the stern of the fishing vessel, and the conveyor belt that moves the catch from the dredges to the ship. The container ship is in the middle right side of the image, stacked with containers, sitting on the horizon. The word “cosco” is painted in large letters on its side.

A large Cosco cargo ship sitting in the water off the stern of the F/V E.S.S. Pursuit during the 2022 Atlantic clam survey. Credit: NOAA Fisheries/Christine Kircun

We sailed out of New Bedford, Massachusetts for Leg 1, heading toward Maryland and Virginia to survey the southernmost section of our Atlantic surfclam population. Given the extremely hot weather on land, it was surprisingly cool on the water. Although, that could have been because I was sleeping during the hottest time of the day, having worked the night shift from midnight to noon.

Alt text: Two color images side by side, taken on a sunny day. At left, two metal slides with sides are at the right side of the image. Multiple brightly-colored plastic baskets are stacked at left. Two men in casual work clothes stand at left and center waiting for samples to hit the baskets. At right, two men lean over a conveyor belt with a few clams on it. — Scientists sorting clam catch on the deck of the F/V E.S.S. Pursuit. Left, Jonathan Duquette and Doug Brander monitor the baskets at the bottom of the slides and switch out baskets when they get full. Right, scientists Mike Bergman and Dom St. Amand sort clams coming from the dredge on the conveyor belt. Credit: NOAA Fisheries/Christine Kircun

There are a lot of shipping lanes where we were working, and it’s not uncommon to see large cargo ships. There was one ship from Cosco Shipping Lines just hanging out. We were thinking about the different kinds and quantities of items that could be sitting right in front of us, but your guess is as good as ours!

A color image taken in a laboratory aboard the F/V E.S.S. Pursuit. At left, two men wearing heavy rubber gloves are examining clams laid out on a measuring board. — Doug Brander and Dom St. Amand process surfclams. This includes measuring length, total weight, and viscera weight, taking a DNA sample, and saving the shells. Credit: NOAA Fisheries/Christine Kircun

The species we sample are Atlantic surfclam, ocean quahog, and Atlantic sea scallop. As for the work on board, sampling clams is very straightforward. Two people stand on a scaffold to sort the catch on the conveyor belt, while another pair work below, where baskets collect the sorted catch. The pair working on the conveyor belt guide the most numerous species onto a metal slide that sends the catch into a basket at the end of the slide. Anything else is handpicked into a separate basket. The pair working at the bottom of the slide switch out the baskets and prepare them to be subsampled, if needed.

There were several special sampling requests for surfclam and ocean quahog this season. We collected surfclam gill tissue for a DNA project and stomach samples for a phytoplankton community analysis. We saved ocean quahog shells to be aged later. Quahogs can live more than 200 years, so understanding their age will give us more insight into the life history of this commercially important shellfish. Collecting all these requests took a little extra time, but that was no problem because the catches are very light in the southern area.

During one tow, we brought up a lot of clay. It was stuck in all parts of the dredge and took the deckhands several hours to soak and hose it off. In response, they built a 1-foot-tall clay man with a big mustache.

A color image taken on a sunny day on the deck of the F/V E.S.S. Pursuit. It’s a snowman made from clay caught in the dredge. It has three buttons made from rocks on its torso, rock eyes and nose, a paper mustache, sticks for arms, and wears a turban made of cloth. — A figure fashioned by deckhands from clay dredged up during the 2022 Atlantic clam survey. Credit: NOAA Fisheries/Christine Kircun

At the end of Leg 1, we docked in Atlantic City, New Jersey to switch out the science crew. The legs for this survey are only 5 days, and I like to stay out a bit longer. That means I’m also on Leg 2 and ready to keep going!

A color image taken on a sunny day. A beachfront city skyline under a dramatic cloudy sky that dominates the image. — Atlantic City from the water, taken from the deck of the F/V E.S.S.Pursuit, headed into post at the end of Leg 1, 2022 Atlantic clam survey. Credit: NOAA Fisheries/Christine Kircun

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Meet the Blogger

Christine Kircun

Christine is a biological lab technician at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center Age and Growth lab in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. The species she ages are silver hake, Merluccius bilinearis, and Acadian redfish, Sebastes fasciatus. In her free time, Christine enjoys playing soccer, working in the garden, and crocheting.

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Field Fresh Blog: Science in Motion

The Northeast Fisheries Science Center has conducted resource cruises since 1885. Our scientists research marine mammals and Atlantic groundfish, and their habitats. On all cruises, oceanographic as well as meteorological data are collected.

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