French researcher Serge Andrefouet was on the island to do surveys of the clam species Tridacna maxima.Lord Howe Island has the most southerly breeding location in the world of this species, and Serge was keen to do size distributions studies, and sample tissue for DNA analysis to investigate the distribution patterns in the Pacific of this species. The team was Serge, myself, Steve Smith and Matt Nimbs from National Marine Science Centre. Despite Cyclone Oma we managed to survey all major areas. Serge was impressed by the large size of some of our clams.
