Tag Archives: Maine Clammers Association
In New England, “The resource keeps diminishing.” Clammers Dig Through The Pandemic For Fewer Shellfish
In Maine, the largest clam producing state, fishermen produced their lowest haul in more than 90 years at a little more than 1.3 million pounds in 2020. Nationwide totals aren’t compiled yet, but Maine’s haul typically accounts for more than half the U.S. total, and hauls in other clamming states such as Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New York have been trending downward in recent years. “The resource keeps diminishing.” The clamming industry has had to contend with more marine predators of clams such as green crabs and milky ribbon worm in recent years. >click to read< 13:33
How big should a clam get? Maine eyes new harvest rules
Maine is the country’s leading producer of soft-shell clams, which are steamed or used to make New England staples such as fried clams and clam chowder. The harvest has fallen in recent years to the point where the nationwide haul for 2017 and ’18 was the lowest for any two-year period in more than 60 years. In Maine, the shellfish business is challenged by growing populations of predators that eat clams and a declining number of clammers. >click to read<12:07
Maine man spent more than $100,000 to dredge for quahog. Now the practice might be banned.
Raymond “Bucky” Alexander figures he has at least $100,000 and several years invested in rebuilding his boat and crafting, by hand, the iron dredger he’s used this summer to dredge for quahogs in the New Meadows River. He checked with the Maine Marine Patrol about the law, and early this spring, when he headed down the river, he and his cousin, West Bath Shellfish Warden Doug Alexander, set out buoys to mark the subtidal area, the part of the river that is underwater even at low tide, where the law says he can dredge. >click to read<09:54
In Maine, green crabs threaten clamming – green crabs’ population explosion
“They’re consuming everything in the environment, even plants,” said Chad Coffin, president of the Maine Clammers Association, whose group is preparing an all-out offensive against the species. “We may be facing the end of the commercially viable soft-shell (clam) population,” he said. “I think it is dire.” continued
