One of the most beautiful creatures here is the giant clam. The come in an extraordinary array of patterns and colours. A bit like those crazy sweaters you used to get. Clams are bivalve molluscs if you want to get scientific; and much prized for food.
Recently we were invited on a boat trip to inspect clam farms and stock a clam farm. Clams only need seawter and sunlight. Theya re raised at the BMR centre (pic in On the Water photos). A series of concrete holding tanks are used with filtration. Once the spawned clams begin to grow they can be put out into farms. These are large metal boxes where the clams are protected from predators such as the eagle ray. Later they are put into large open netted areas out near the reef.
It can take many years for them to reach maximum size - a 5 year old will sit in your palm and the largest are around 50 years old. Needless to say if too many are harvested the stocks can get low - hence the aquaculture.
One unexpected bonus of this job - I am overcoming my seasickness with regular boat trips!
