Why should I care about shellfish? - The health of the environment where shellfish grow ultimately affects all of us. Clams, oysters, mussels and scallops are filter feeders – meaning they get their food by pumping and filtering massive amounts of water through their bodies each day. They filter the water that passes by them and extract food from this water. As water passes through the shellfish,
they filter out particles for food. They filter out all particles – including any chemicals, biotoxins (red tide), and bacteria and viruses. And you can’t tell by looking at them what they’ve been filtering. Oysters assist in ‘cleaning up’ the waters through filtrations. An adult oyster can filter up to 50 gallons of water per day making a significant impact on filtering the water that passes by it. Through filtration, oyster reefs can improve water quality by removing pollutants and controlling algae blooms. Many people enjoy eating shellfish and historically, it has been a very important, sustainable food source. Clinton Harbor used to be abundant with a thriving shellfish population. Shellfish was a very important food source for the Native Americans living in the Connecticut shoreline regions. At one point, Clinton Harbor was one of the largest producers of shellfish in the World. However, shellfish must have clean water to be safely eaten. In current times, contaminants can concentrate in the shellfish and may make them unsafe to eat. For this reason, shell fishing waters must be very clean to allow harvesting and direct consumption by humans. In Clinton Harbor, regular water testing must be done to determine if shellfish can be safely eaten. Fortunately, the filter feeding mechanism can be used to cleanse shellfish that have grown in dirty water, by placing them in clean water for a few weeks. This ‘relay’ system, whereby shellfish are relocated to cleaner waters temporarily before harvest, allows the shellfish to filter out any harmful contaminants. The contaminants will flush out of the shellfish over the course of a few weeks , making them again safe to eat.
