SCARBOROUGH (AP) — The soft-shell clams that are harvested by hand and raked from the mud flats of Maine are becoming less plentiful, and the downward trend jeopardizes one of New England’s oldest and most historic coastal industries. Maine is the soft-shell clam capital of the country. But clammers harvested less than 1.5 million (0.68 […]
clams
Posted inBusiness, sj-web
Clammers, wormers clash over use of Thomas Point mud flats
BRUNSWICK — In the past year, Brunswick Harbor Master Dan Devereaux has seen something he hasn’t found in a while in the mud flats off Thomas Point Beach. A whole lot of clams. “This season and last there’s just a great natural set of clams out there,” he said Wednesday, Sept. 2. With soft-shell clam […]
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Face Time: Prof. Mike Retelle — geologist, adventurer
Bates College geology professor Mike Retelle is part of a team of scientists studying climate change through clams that live a long, long time. Think 300 to 500 years long. The project, which won a three-year National Science Foundation grant last month, measures water temperature changes over time by examining the growth rings in clams’ […]
Posted inBusiness, sj-web
Proposed mudflat regulations inch forward
AUGUSTA — Following a three-hour public hearing that drew hundreds of worm diggers and clam harvesters from up and down the Maine coast, a bill designed to prohibit the digging of blood worms in mudflats closed for conservation moved forward on Wednesday, albeit in a different form and with far fewer restrictions on worm digging. […]
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Greedy green crabs overtake Maine clam flats
FREEPORT (AP) — Voracious green crabs are overtaking hundreds if not thousands of acres of mudflats along the Maine coast, cleaning out soft-shell clams and posing a threat to other shellfish, officials said Wednesday. Prompted by the invasion of the crabs, the Department of Marine Resources this week oversaw a one-day coastwide survey to gauge […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
Green crab researchers worry about fate of lobster industry
FREEPORT — Clammer Clint Goodenow motored his skiff up to a small, white buoy in the Harraseeket River Monday afternoon and began pulling up yards of rope from the bay floor below. After reaching the end of the rope, he leaned over the side of the boat and plunged his hands into the water, grabbing […]