Overview
Brief Summary
Comprehensive Description
Distribution
Physical Description
Size
Identification Resources
Symbiosis
Parasitism
Commensalism
Mutualism
Life History & Behaviour
Behaviour
Natural History
Human Exploitation
Threats
Anthropogenic Factors
Research Project
Conservation
Trends & Status
References & More Information
Bibliographies | Status & Trends
The small giant clam is now protected under the IUCN red list, in which it is classified as Least Concern, Conservation Dependent. It is also protected under the CITES appendix II, annex 8.
The wide distribution of the clams and its extremely high density in some places (>60/m²) (Andrefouet, 2005) is not helping people to change their mind about this species. Indeed, the small giant clam is doing well when it is not harvested or trade, but in some places it already went extinct due to over-exploitation of this easily caught resource (IUCN). Locally, some places are now empty of clams when before they were sustaining population of about 100, 000 individuals. The study of Apte (2010) also underline the problem of a threshold in density, under which the population of the clam is not sustainable. The problem is that, even if populations are monitored since a couple of decades, the threshold, in term of density, is not yet known. Thus, we should keep working on the sustainability of the clam.
Some clams are now used in mariculture for two purpose. The first one is for producing food, supply for aquariophile or shells. The second one is for re-population and long term conservation purposes.
Exploiting clam under a culture context is a good idea to reduce the impact of over-harvesting on wild clam populations. With the knowledge of the clams we have and with the potential of technology, we should be able to produce clams in sufficient supply (Junemie, 2010). Thus, minimising the impact on Tridacna maxima.
On the other hand, using mariculture to re-grow population in heavily impacted area allows us to mitigate previous impact we had on populations. The problem is that because clam population are self sustainable only above a certain density that we do not know, we should seeded areas with a high density of clams. thus decreasing the area re-grown. However, the mortality associated with transplantation of clams is rather high, and thus having a sufficient density may be an issue (Elfwing, 2003).
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