Shellfish propogation

Today I spent an interesting day learning about and then participating in shellfish propogation. For those of you who are not familiar with the term this is basically farming clams, oysters and scallops. The environment on and surrounding cape cod has been decimated to the point that the once abundant shellfish populations that were the livelihoods of so many people have become close to extinct aroud the cape. The solution to this problem is supposedly to take shellfish (generally the weaker ones because the stronger ones are more valuable to sell) breed them in captivity, place the young in "farms" in the wild. When these young mature they are then spread out through the waters around the cape where they will be harvested, and hopefully start to reproduce (this is the same idea as farming salmon for all you northwesterners out there). The concept behind this projet is greatly debated and I think if pushed I am probably more against it than I am for it. Shellfish propagation can drastically shrink a species gene pool reducing its ability to defend itself from viruses and diseases. There are a multitude of other problems that can also arise. I would prefer to work on projects that focus more on habitat restoration for shellfish numbers to naturally return to there once abundant numbers. However this would not be nearly as quick or easy of a fix. Regardless of how I feel about the project it was a unique and great experience that I think was very beneficial for me to go through. Plus I got to play around in the water all day which I enjoy. Hopefully I can keep this positive while repeating this project through the rest of the year.

P.S. the moms is starting treatment again tommorrow for her lymphoma so happy thoughts and prayers for her would be greatly appreciated.