Cleansing the waters of the Gulf of Mexico’s Tampa Bay using northern quahog (Mercenaria mercenaria) clams to combat Florida Red Tide might seem a little “out there”, but “out there” has been the trademark of the founder of a sustainable restaurant group on a seven-mile Florida island situated off the coast of Manatee County.
The enterprise is the brainchild of Ed Chiles, son of former Florida Senator and Governor Lawton Chiles. Chiles, owner and president of The Chiles Group of Anna Maria Island and Longboat Key. Chiles conceived the idea for the brood-stock restoration project using clams to continuously cleanses the water of the bay. It was born out of the Bradenton Beach Community Redevelopment Authority’s project to create a living shoreline destined to eventually include finger docks, reef balls and an educational kiosk.
“Clams are a natural for cleansing the waters of Tampa Bay because they filter out chemicals, pathogens and bacteria responsible for Red Tide,” Chiles told Gulf Seafood News at his Mar Vista restaurant on Anna Maria Island. “Our Florida Red Tide is the result of harmful algal blooms known as Karenia brevis, it is one of many different species of the algae found in the world’s oceans.”
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