MAR 3 1 1977 



N. C. 

 Doc 



NORTH CAROLINA STATE LIBRARY 

 RALEIGH 



V& @B» [P[3®©C3/aMI 



GE\M,[iTrmiD3 



July, 1976 



Sea Grant advisory agent Hughes Tillet lifts a rack of 

 oysters for inspection. 



1235 Burlington Laboratories 

 NCSU, Raleigh, N.C. 27607 Tel: (919) 737-2U5U 



Growing 

 Your Own . . . 

 Clams and Oysters 



Inlanders put in their okra and cabbage seeds; 

 folks on the coast are planting seed oysters and 

 clams in an experiment in shellfish gardening on 

 the North Carolina Outer Banks. 



The experiment began in the Pamlico Sound 

 when Sea Grant advisory agents Sumner Midgett 

 and Hughes Tillet sowed 50,000 clams smaller than 

 half an inch in the sand behind Lawrence Lee 

 Austin's Hatteras home. Midgett and Tillet had 

 intended to scatter the infant clams inside a protec- 

 tive wire pen, but the clams arrived before the pen 

 did. The Sea Grant team learned an important 

 lesson when all 50,000 clams were wiped out; pro- 

 tective pens are important to the success of cul- 

 tured clams. 



That was three years ago and Midgett and Til- 

 let are continuing to learn about clam, and more 

 recently, oyster aquaculture. Through Sea Grant 

 and Pocket of Excellence funds, ten people from 

 Oregon Inlet to Atlantic have started clam and 

 oyster gardens and one — Lawrence Lee Austin — 

 has already reaped the benefits of a harvest. Austin 

 won't say exactly how much he profited from the 

 sale of his cultured clams, but he was encouraged 

 enough to wade through two and a half years of 

 red tape to get a state lease for 12.7 acres of bottom 

 land. Austin plans to gradually find the best places 

 on his acreage for gardening and — if the economics 

 work out — turn clam and oyster farming into a 

 full-time occupation. 



(See "From Seed," page 5) 



