Document Type

Article

Department/Program

Virginia Institute of Marine Science

Publication Date

1980

Journal

Fisheries Bulletin

Volume

78

Issue

2

First Page

538

Last Page

541

Abstract

Individuals in the clam industry h ave used fences to keep the cownose ray, Rhirioptera bonasus, out of planted areas (Lewis 2 ; Burton3 ). Tiller et al. ( 1952) indicated losses due to skates in planted holding areas and stated that "One man reported the loss of 600 bushels of small clams in two nights during 1948 .... " Merriner and Smith4 stated that cownose ray predation is a serious problem on oyster and clam grounds in Chesapeake Bay. From these observations it is clear that such large predators could be a significant deterrent to the culture of clams from Delaware Bay southward along the Atlantic coast.

The present study continues a program designed tv evaluate methods of protecting areas seeded with young Mercenaria mercenaria

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