Clam digging

Methods

Recreational

Amateur clam digging is often done using a straight long-handled spading fork, or a spading shovel.

Digging for razor clams using a clam shovel or tube is a family and recreational activity in Oregon and Washington state.

In the Minas Basin area of Nova Scotia, digging for soft-shelled clams is usually done with a clam hack, a spading fork with its short handle bent perpendicularly away from the fork's head. A digger typically uses the hack by grasping the spine of the prongs in one hand and the handle of the fork in the other to push the hack down into the mud, clay, or sand and then pull it up and towards him/herself. This digging action opens up the substrate to expose the clams. Those clams legally long enough (44 mm in Nova Scotia) are then taken by hand and put into a peck-size (9 litre) bucket that is used to measure the volume of clams collected.

Clam digging on the New England coast is done using a "clam hoe" (a pitchfork with the handle cut off about 18 in from the tines then bent about 70 degrees) and a "hod" or "roller" (a half bushel basket built using wood lathes or wire mesh) and hip waders (boot that extend up to the top of the legs). The use of other tools is prohibited in some areas.

Another popular method for bay clamming is the use of specialized tongs from a boat. Operators use the long tongs to probe the sand for clams. Clam tongs appear very much like two clam rakes with teeth hinged like scissors.

Commercial

Commercial clam digging for quahog clams, and the larger surf clams (soup clams) is primarily done offshore, via mechanical dredging. To harvest cultivated clam beds, aquaculturists often use a much smaller version (hand pulled) from the offshore dredge.

Another form of commercial clam digging is done from a flat-decked boat using a clam rake with a telescopic handle. The head of these rakes have long tines attached to a "basket-like" cage in which the clams are collected.

Regulations

In Maine coastal towns and cities regulate digging clams in cooperation with the state Department of Marine Resources. Town clerks and city clerks issue recreational licenses for residents and nonresidents limiting digging to certain waters during certain times of the year.

References

References

1. ''Random House Webster's college dictionary''. 2nd ed. New York: Random House, 1997. Print.
2. (2014). "Recreational Razor Clamming". Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife.
3. (2014). "How to Dig Razor Clams". Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife.
4. (2014-03-03). "Razor Clams". Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.
5. Crouch, Ray. (2014). "Fisheries Then: Clams". Downeast Fisheries Trail.
6. "Brewster Non-Commercial Shellfish Rules and Regulations".
7. "Town of Chatham Shellfish Rules and Regulations".
8. Roberts, Russell, and Richard Youmans. ''Down the Jersey Shore''. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1993. Print. 124.
9. "Shellfish {{!}} Department of Marine Resources".
10. "Shellfishing and Clam Digging in Maine (ME) } Visit Maine".