Estimating clam recruitment potential in a nursery area in the Sacca di Goro lagoon (Italy)

The assessment of clam recruitment potential is a necessary step to improve the economic and environmental sustainability of the exploitation activities in a regulated fishery. We discuss the application of a method for estimating the clam recruitment potential in a natural nursery area (the so-called Bassona) of a northern Adriatic lagoon (Sacca di Goro, Italy). Larvae in the plankton were collected at weekly intervals, while post-larvae that settled were analysed monthly. Planktonic larval and benthic post-larval cohorts were determined, and growth and mortality rates were calculated. The theoretical formulation derived allows the estimate of the future abundance of juvenile clams during their first year of benthic life.