Lyle Topping, Features Writer
When you think of Earth Day a couple things may come to mind, planting a tree or simply going out and enjoying nature by hike or bike ride. For some reason, the ocean never gets brought up. For something that takes up over half of our planet, you’d think it would have more of a forefront than it does on a special day like this. Coming from a land locked state originally, “ocean education” was unfortunately, not a hot topic at hand for me.
I was able to reach out to Victoria Parks, the Co-Founder and Senior Hatchery Manager of Seaventure. Ms. Parks has a BS in Marine Science from the University of Florida. The following is an excerpt of our interview:
In Motion: Please describe your background.
Parks: “I interned at multiple shellfish hatcheries during my undergrad where I began sharpening my skills in the lab and the hatchery. I have been operating Seaventure Clam Co for roughly 4 years now producing the Hard Clam, Mercenaria mercenaria. In that time, I have participated in studies involving both clams and microalgae for use in the hatchery.”
In Motion: “Can you please describe Seaventure.”
Parks: “In October 2017, we established our Florida based bivalve hatchery, Seaventure Clam Co. We specialize in the production of Hard Clam, Mercenaria mercenaria, seed for shellfish farmers throughout the Southeast of the United States (FL, GA, NC, with pilot studies taking place in NJ), with a majority of our farmers located on the northwest coast of Florida, in Cedar Key. Our seed sizes range from 1.0 mm, 1.2 mm, and 4.0 mm.”
In Motion: “How important is the ocean to our ecosystem?”
Parks: “The ocean makes up the majority of our planet, making its health vital to the stability and survival of our ecosystem. The ocean acts as the Earth’s regulator, sustaining the climate balance required to create this planetary oasis. Additionally, it produces both of Earth’s oxygen and stores a large amount of carbon from the atmosphere. Therefore, it is imperative that we make our oceans health one of our top priorities as residents of this planet.”
In Motion: “Can you tell the general public a little bit more about ocean education?”
Parks: “I would encourage the public to engage with industries surrounding our oceans, there are so many talented and brilliant minds working on solutions that the world needs to know about. We also need to understand that everything is so closely tied together, this is not an individual person or industry issue. This is an area where if we make improvements in stock populations and water quality in our oceans then we will see an improved quality in our oceans then we will see improved quality of life for coastal residents and draw tourist. Expansion of both will create economic opportunities for many coastal communities.”
To learn more about Seaventure Clam Co, visit their website at https://www.seaventureclamco.com.