Giant clams (Tridacnidae) are the largest bivalve molluscs on earth and can weigh up to 200kg. Since 1996, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature have listed giant clams on their Red List of Threatened Animals, resulting from continued overharvesting. To help protect and maintain Fiji’s giant clam population, Kokomo has started a clam nursery project. Working in collaboration with the Fiji Ministry of Fisheries ‘Clam Hatchery Conservation Program’, baby giant claims will be donated to Kokomo for protection, monitoring and transplantation.
Juvenile and sub-adult clams will be housed in our nursery, where they’ll be scrubbed weekly to remove excess algae and parasites. When they’ve grown big enough, they will be moved to Kokomo’s house reef and grouped to promote spawning. Single clams sitting idle on the reef are unlikely to produce young, so transplantation will focus on grouping and clustering giant clams of the same species to allow for fertilisation to occur.