As the future of Boston’s few remaining clam diggers comes into question with impending construction around Logan Airport, some in Boston have taken up the cause to revitalize he city’s wetlands, especially the areas around Dorchester Bay.

These efforts to re-clam the Boston Harbor and to freshen-up Dorchester Bay are part of a loose collaboration of Mayor Thomas Menino’s Office, Save the Harbor / Save the Bay, and the Department of Marine Fisheries. The work consists of releasing baby clams into under-populated flats while also limiting the amount of storm water discharged into Dorchester Bay.

“We’re at the point where Dorchester Bay is going to have some of the best water in the area,” said Bruce Berman, spokesperson for Save the Harbor / Save the Bay. Berman’s organization last month celebrated the opening of a new city sewage holding tank – a $225 million project to prevent waste water from reaching the bay.

Soon, Berman hopes, clams that now have to be purified at a Newburyport processing plant will no longer have to be.

“I’m hoping that we’ll have clams not having to be purified in five years,” he said. “I’m optimistic.

Boston’s clamming industry received recent attention last week when The Boston Phoenix’s Chris Faraone exposed the difficulties of registered clam farmers facing federally mandated safety constructions around Logan Airport and the aftereffects of an oil leakage from last year. Local clam beds – the livelihoods of these several dozen full-time clam diggers – have suffered from overfishing, pollution, and the effects of having an airport nearby.

In response, the Department of Marine Fisheries has spearheaded a re-clamming effort, or, as they call it, a soft-shelll stock enhancement project.

The program plants clams in beds along the shores of Hull, Winthrop, Hingham, Weymouth, Quincy, and Boston. There are no current enhancement efforts under way in Dorchester, although DMF officials are keeping an eye on a particular flat near Malibu Beach, said Jeff Kennedy, DMF manager of the shellfish purification plant in Newburyport.

The project employs youth from the Boston school system who work re-clamming areas around the harbor. This youth arm of the project is run out of Thompson Island in Dorchester Bay where Outward Bound Education Center director Arthur Pearson says he’s “delighted” to play host to the students, many of whom are at K-8 levels.

“When they wanted to bring these kids here, I said, ‘Let’s do it. Bring it on.’ It’s great to connect these kids to science and math … and for them to develop life skills as well.”

While there is much optimism surrounding the stock enhancement project, it remains a time-consuming effort – clams need to be planted and protected for 3-6 months before they can establish themselves in an area. Even then, it takes another three years before the area can be re-open to clam digging.

Boston officials say that intrusions into clam beds – like those to be performed around Logan Airport - will be examined thoroughly.

“Certainly the city would be concerned with any impacts to wetland resources and aquatic resources and seek that MassPort minimize any impacts and mitigate any impacts.”