The waters around Anna Maria may someday house about 20,000 new residents — clams.
But city commissioners want to keep options open for now.
Commissioners unanimously voted Jan. 13 to table discussion on a proposed project to seed clams and add areas of cultivated seagrass along the city’s northern shoreline on Tampa Bay and within Bimini Bay.
The city earmarked $50,000 of the $740,432 it received from the U.S. American Rescue Plan to spend on red tide mitigation, according to Mayor Dan Murphy.
Local restaurateur Ed Chiles wrote in a Jan. 7 email to Murphy that if the city agreed to use the money on a clam and seagrass project, the Chiles Group would announce a $50,000 matching challenge to increase funding to $150,000.
Chiles, who is named as vice president of Gulf Shellfish Institute Inc., brought executive president Stephen Hesterberg to pitch the project Jan. 13 to commissioners.
GSI is a Palmetto-based nonprofit organization with a mission to “facilitate, support and encourage increased production of shellfish … for both economic and environmental benefit,” according to its website, gulfshellfishinstitute.org.
Hesterberg said seeding filter feeders such as clams — which can each filter up to 4.5 gallons of water per day — could improve water quality and marine resilience to red tide.
Red tide is a higher-than-normal concentration of naturally occurring algae, specifically Karenia brevis, which exists in the waters year-round but, at high levels, produces brevetoxins that can kill marine life and be harmful to humans, according to Mote Marine Laboratory.
The algae can bloom in high concentrations at times, can cause respiratory irritation that bothers beachgoers and fish kills that impact commercial fishers.
Clams would not prevent red tide from reaching the city’s waters but Hesterberg said they could reduce sore spots by removing toxins from the water.
Clams also nourish seagrass, which provides food and habitat for marine life, by consuming phytoplankton and depositing nitrogen into the seabed, according to Hesterberg.
He said GSI would oversee a collaborative project. The Diatom Initiative would seed two species of bivalves, southern hard and Venus sunray clams. And Winter Garden-based Sea & Shoreline would plant seagrass.
The Diatom Initiative would monitor the seeded clams on a quarterly basis for a year, while Sea & Shoreline would track planted seagrass annually for three years.
The two contractors would report to GSI, which would assist in monitoring and evaluating the proposed marine restoration and report to the city.
Angela Collins, a University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Extension Sea Grant agent for Manatee County, attended the meeting and spoke in support from the audience.
“There would be multiple research projects that would be happening in conjunction with this one that could really provide some synergy and really elevate the level of research that’s happening in the Tampa Bay area,” Collins said.
Commissioner Deanie Sebring supported pushing the project forward but Commissioner Jonathan Crane urged the commission to table the discussion until its next meeting.
Crane said that, by then, Mote will have released its annual report detailing red tide mitigation strategies that the city might want to explore. He added that the city should invite Mote associate vice president for sponsored research Kevin Claridge to speak about the issue.
Crane moved to table the discussion until the commission’s next meeting.
Commissioner Robert Kingan seconded the motion, which passed.
In other matters
City commissioners also:
- Reached consensus to send a proposed ordinance amending city code on determining a property’s buildable area to a second, final reading;
- Reached consensus to send to final reading a proposed ordinance amending the city’s comprehensive plan to add a property rights element in accordance with state law;
- Reached consensus to end discussions about drafting an ordinance that would prohibit certain property owners from splitting large lots in an effort to curb overdevelopment due to the risk of lawsuits under the state’s Bert J. Harris, Jr., Private Property Rights Protection Act.
The commission will meet next at 6 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 27, at city hall, 10005 Gulf Drive N. The meeting is open to the public with masks recommended. Directions to attend via Zoom can be found online at cityofannamaria.com.