Clam diggers have been working the flats in the Medomak River in Waldoboro since the Dept. of Marine Resources lifted the rainfall conditional areas closure at 5 a.m. Aug. 7. The flood closure was lifted more than a week ago, according to Waldoboro Shellfish Warden Bill Bragg and as far as he knows, red tide has not been a problem in the Medomak River.
The state had a mandatory furlow day, but posted Friday’s notice on Thursday. Bragg brought water samples to the DMR to test for pollution on Aug. 4 and the samples came back clean on Aug. 6. According to Shellfish Committee Chair Abden Simmons, workers from the DMR postdated the legal notice to help out and get diggers back to work.
“The DMRs helped Waldoboro out quite a bit,” Simmons said, also mentioning the efforts by members of the community to keep tabs on pollution and keep the flats open for harvesting.
Having been out of work for nearly two months, diggers are harvesting what they can to supply the market with the Medomak River clams, but not without new challenges.
“The diggers are doing okay,” Bragg said reluctantly, implying that the harvest hasn’t been very plentiful.
Increases in Massachusetts shellfish harvests and more areas opening up after having been shut down for so long affect the price diggers are getting for their clams, which, for the past few days, has been declining, according to April Simmons, a dealer who buys clams locally and sells them to Moody’s Seafood in Harpswell.
On Aug. 12, diggers were getting $80 per bushel. The day before, the price for a bushel of clams paid to harvesters was $90 and the day before that the price was $100 per bushel.
“There are not a lot of clams down here right now,” Simmons said from the shop she and her husband, Abden, operate on Jefferson St.
She said some believe each river has its own cycles where the harvests fluctuate year to year. Some diggers at the Pine St. boat landing agreed. They also said there are a lot of small clams, but many not big enough to harvest.
Bragg said the holes, which indicate the spots where clams are buried in the mud, haven’t been showing up like they should. He cited the warm weather and the abundance of fresh water as the cause, adding that the holes show up more in cooler weather.
Abden said the abundance of fresh water has kept the clams from a growth spurt harvesters usually see this time of year. Usually warm water helps make a difference in that jump in growth, he said.
“There are too many diggers,” former Waldoboro Fish Agent Glen Brown and another harvester said while pulling their boats into the Pine St. boat landing.
Brown said there are more pickers who harvest clams than there are diggers, however. Diggers turn the mud over as they work, which helps the clams grow, he said.
Dealers and diggers alike hope for an improved harvest in the future, but wait to see what the weather will bring.
“I think the harvest will get better over time,” Bragg said.
