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EastMed Technical Documents - No 20 A Study to Investigate the Potential Exploitation of the Venus Clam Chamelea Gallina in Egypt

Year of publication 2014

Pages 85 pl

Author Dimech, Mark;Salah, Atif;Abbas, Ahmed;Kamal, Mohamed; Omar, Hamdi;Nermeen El Sersy;Eman El Wazzan;Paolo Tiozzo;Dario Pinello;Carocci, Fabio;El Haweet, Alaa ;Hatem Hanafy Mahmoud; Riga, Konstantina

Product type Project

Series title EastMed Technical Documents (FAO)

Edition 1

Synopsis (short abstract) In Egypt due to the Nile delta and the presence of large shallow waters (0-20 m), with areas composed of sand and mud, there could be a great potential for the exploitation of a variety of clams. Given the big gap in knowledge on clams in Egypt the FAO EastMed project has started a study to support Egypt in exploring the possibility to determine if the clam resources exists, and then assist Egypt in developing a potential fishery. The study was conducted between Rasheed and Burullus, where there is a large extend of 60 km of shallow water sandy bottoms. The depth was decided to be limited to 10 m depth contour and target the main potential stock present, that of the clam Chamelea gallina. In total 126 hauls were conducted covering a coastline of about 60 km from 3 - 10 m in depth. All the species sampled were counted and weighed and Chamelea gallina samples were also kept for further processing in the laboratory, where the collection of stock parameters, microbiological and heavy metal analysis were conducted. Overall the results show that the commercial clam Chamelea gallina has a potential for exploitation together with other potentially commercial species such as the changeable nassa Nassarius mutabilis and the bivalve Anadara polii. Most of the biomass is located on the Western side of the area investigated and close to the fishing port of Rasheed, making the area more easily reachable. The results obtained from the bacterial and heavy metal analysis show that the clams a re in general within safe limits especially in the western and middle parts of the investigated area and when compared to other commercially exploited bivalve species in Egypt such as Tapes decussatus. In the investigated area when considering the MSY and the cost structure of small trawlers the recommendation is that as a start 10 hydraulic dredgers would be suitable to exploit the fisheries resources. Most of the potential production would probably be for local consumption in Egypt, since expo rt is rather difficult due to the special regulations for the import of bivalve species. The main constraint for the commercialisation of the products will be the market, since these species are at present not commercialised in Egypt, market strategy should be devised in order to successfully introduce the product in the local markets. Once the market has been understood and the products are successfully introduced an EAF management plan could be drawn up.

Language English

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    Giant Clams in the Maldives- A Stock Assessment and Study of Their Potential for Culture-BOBP/WP/72 1991
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    Tuna fishing is the major fisheries activity in the Maldives. However, fishing for nontraditional organisms is becoming popular, as it provides fishermen with new areas of employment or alternatives when tuna fishing is poor. One non-traditional fishery in the Maldives is that for giant clam. This fishery is only a year old, but so considerably has the resourcebeen exploited that different non-fishery professionals — tourist resort owners, divers and, of course, environmentalists — have alread y shown great concern about its long term effects. It was this concern that led to the Ministry of Fisheries and Agriculture undertaking an assessment of the status of giant clams in the Maldives through their Reef Fish Research and Resources Survey Project (RAS/88/007). The assessment was executed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations through the Bay of Bengal Programme, with funding from the United Nations Development Programme. This paper is based on the report su bmitted by the consultant to the Government of Maldives in April 1991 and describes the findings of the assessment and discusses the possibility of developing a viable mariculture project to ensure a continued existence of the giant clam in the Maldives. The author wishes to thank all the team at the Marine Research Section of the Ministry of Fisheries, particularly Maizan Hassan Maniku and Charles Allism, for their detailed backgound information, Hassan Shakeel of MRS, for putting up with man y questions and providing logistic assistance, Bill Allison for field assistance in counting of clams and John Lucas for helpful comments on the final report.
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