. Coast watch. Marine resources; Oceanography; Coastal zone management; Coastal ecology. Bringing Clams to the Backyard in Buxton Barbara and Luther Midgett, of Buxton, raise hunting dogs, bees, vegetables, children and—in a new venture—clams. "We had what we consider an ideal farming situation in our backyard and we knew another man had farmed successfully in Hatteras," Barbara Midgett says to explain the 30-by-100 feet clam pen installed behind her home in November 1975. "We'd always raked wild clams so we thought why not call Hughes and Sumner and see if we were eligible for
. Coast watch. Marine resources; Oceanography; Coastal zone management; Coastal ecology. Bringing Clams to the Backyard in Buxton Barbara and Luther Midgett, of Buxton, raise hunting dogs, bees, vegetables, children and—in a new venture—clams. "We had what we consider an ideal farming situation in our backyard and we knew another man had farmed successfully in Hatteras," Barbara Midgett says to explain the 30-by-100 feet clam pen installed behind her home in November 1975. "We'd always raked wild clams so we thought why not call Hughes and Sumner and see if we were eligible for a pilot ; Sumner Midgett and Hughes Tillet, the Sea Grant clam farming explorers, looked over the area and decided it looked prime for clam produc- tion. They helped the Midgetts build a protective pen of vinyl coated wire. Treated wood pilings were installed about every 10 feet and the structure was given a life expectancy of at least five years, Barbara Midgett says. "We really don't have to do anything. We just go and look at them and clear off any debris and watch for ; The pen was then divided into seven smaller sections. Two thousand eighth-inch size seed clams were placed in one section, 2,000 quarter-inch in the next and 4,000 three-eighths inch clams in the next. The other four sections were filled with clams with a diameter of five-eighths of an inch. Twenty- five hundred of these clams were put in two parts of the pen and 3,500 in the remaining two sections. Sea Grant will monitor the operation to see which sizes and densities of clams grow best. "We really don't have to do anything," Barbara Midgett says. "We just go and look at them and clear off any debris and watch for crabs. We've had low mortality and considerable growth. We look to harvesting cherrystone-size clams 16 months from last ; The Midgetts have applied for a lease for five acres of bottom off their own 225-foot shoreline. If the lease come
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookcollectionunclibra, booksubjectoceanography
