Dear Colleagues,

In collaboration with The Nature Conservancy, several members are soliciting data and expert input on the condition of habitat forming bivalve shellfish (primarily mussels and oysters) within their native ranges. They write:

We would greatly appreciate your help in completing a brief survey on the status and change in shellfish populations in your area. This survey is part of a Shellfish Reefs at Risk project, which aims to identify the global distribution and condition of habitat-forming, native bivalve species. We focus on oyster and mussel species that form reefs and beds. This survey helps fill in missing data points for shellfish populations in bays and coasts globally. If you have information on multiple taxa or bays then please fill in multiple sheets as this will help us develop the most comprehensive data set possible. Ultimately the shellfish distribution database will be made widely available on the web.

You can complete the survey online at shellfish survey.

More information including a fact sheet and some preliminary distribution maps can be found at Shellfish Reefs at Risk.

Thanks,

Mike Beck, Rob Brumbaugh, Loren Coen, Omar Defeo, Hunter Lenihan, Mark Luckenbach, Caitlyn Toropova and Jeff Vincent

For more info contact Caitlyn Toropova, Program Coordinator, The Nature Conservancy Global Marine Initiative

(831) 459-1460 (Phone)

(831) 459-3383 (Fax)

ctoropova@tnc.org

nature.org/initiatives/marine

Center of Ocean Health 100 Shaffer Rd. Santa Cruz, CA 95060