This summer I am stationed in Charleston doing fieldwork with SEACOR, a project in the Marine Resources division of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. SEACOR conducts bay clam population and estuarine habitat studies in all of the bays along the Oregon coast. The primary focus includes “documenting where recreationally important bay clams are found and the abundance, biomass, and preferred habitat type for each species” (source: SEACOR website, click to learn more). Clams which are recreationally harvested are the main targets but information on other shellfish in the estuary is also collected. The SEACOR project is a unique and important project, contributing to conservation of estuaries and clam populations.

In order to obtain the data used for recreational clamming maps, including calculating clam population and documenting clam distribution, it is necessary to conduct estuary habitat surveys. Summer time is the season for field work, which is where I come in.

Conducting clam surveys uses two main methods:

• RAM- Rapid Assessment Method
• DAM- Detailed Assessment Method.

RAM allows for more sites to be surveyed because it is a quicker process than DAM. First, a square 1 meter area is marked off, then the habitat is examined in and around the marked off area. Observations are recorded, including eelgrass and algae cover, substrate type, number and type of burrow holes, temperature, and depth of anoxic (low oxygen) layer. Once all of that information is recorded the area marked off is raked by hand and any cockle or littleneck clams are noted. Some sites will have extra samples collected and will be revisited for a more detailed assessment.

DAM is a more time consuming and in-depth assessment of randomly chosen RAM sites. This method involves megacoring which means going out on a boat, lowering a steel ring into the ground, and vacuuming out everything inside the ring about a meter down. Specimens are collected, sorted, measured, all data recorded, and the specimens returned.

One of the biggest differences between the two methods is RAM has to be performed when the tide is low and the flats are exposed. DAM, because it requires a water vacuum the sediment, has to occur when there is at least half a meter of water over the site. DAM requires a dry suit because maneuvering the pump requires standing in water and the Northwest Pacific Ocean is cold. RAM requires waders and boots because it can be extremely messy. The SEACOR team has been awesome and has made sure I get to fully participate in both types of data collection. My first week was gathering information via RAM and it was MUDDY! Never having been on a tide flat or walked through a shrimp bed, I quickly realized you have to embrace the mud and get comfortable with being muddy. Once that happens, it is actually quite fun to play in the mud (though trying to walk through can be exhausting).

And to illustrate how muddy it can get, here is a picture of me in the mud after I lost my hiking boot in the mud. Ignore the weird face- I was talking and didn’t realize anyone was taking my picture!

My first week consisted of three days of RAM work and I was exhausted. Little did I know the next week would be megacoring, which is a different type of exhausting. It involves about six hours on a boat with a team of three people. Two people are in the water, one person maneuvering the pump nozzle and another person maneuvering the pump while a third person is on the boat sorting the sample collection from the previous site. Below is a picture of me holding the pump nozzle and dredging the site.

During the megacoring weeks, it has been interesting sorting through the samples and finding the crabs, clams, and shrimp collected. Everyone on the team has been quick to share their knowledge identifying what is dredged up so the sorting and measuring process has been great for learning to identify different the different types of shellfish in the estuary.

Next week is yet another new kind of data collection involving images taken by drones to map eelgrass habitats. I am excited to get to spend a week in the Tillamook area (I have never been there) and see firsthand how the data is gathered. Be prepared to read all about it in the next post!