The New Jersey Bureau of Shellfisheries conducted a hard clam (Mercenaria mercenaria) stock assessment of Little Egg Harbor Bay. The Bureau sampled 196 stations from 24 August to 18 October 2011 using a hydraulic dredge to determine the Bays standing stock and relative distribution of hard clams. The hard clam resource in Little Egg Harbor Bay is estimated at 85.7 million clams, an increase of 32% from an identical survey conducted in 2001, but a 57% decline from the first comprehensive shellfish survey conducted in the Bay in 1986/87.