Abstract
A specific and dramatic example for the tropics is detailed to avoid too much attention being diverted to Northern Hemisphere shellfish cultivation. There is nothing more dramatic than Giant Clams, which have been fished out to extinction in many Indian Ocean and Pacific waters, but elsewhere contribute to a still thriving industry, though clam dredging is now doing immense damage to coral reefs in many areas. The topic of giant clam cultivation covers conservation and restocking of clams, but with the potential bonus of rehabilitating coral reefs degraded by bleaching induced by climate change, as well as food production, and development of remunerative local industry for local Pacific Island communities. It’s not just the food value of the animal; the shells are used for carving (large!) ornaments, and several species are traded around the world for marine aquariums. Work towards ‘seeding’ and recolonising has been going on in the Pacific region for more than 30 years. Much of this work has been published and many of the faults in approach and problems of governance identified. In addition, though, several local enterprises have developed methods to produce economically large numbers of young giant clams for restocking tropical seas. The conservation and educational programmes that have resulted deserve wider attention and greater investment as they tie-in well with our call to ‘cultivate shellfish to remediate the atmosphere’.
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Acknowledgements
I acknowledge, with sincere thanks, the contributions of Philip Dor and The Tridacna Mariculture Development Center [http://www.tmdc.info/] for the inspiration to develop this Chapter.
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Moore, D. (2022). Farming Giant Clams in 2021: A Great Future for the ‘Blue Economy’ of Tropical Islands. In: Aquaculture: Ocean Blue Carbon Meets UN-SDGS. Sustainable Development Goals Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-94846-7_5
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