Hard or soft, wild or farmed, chowder or cherrystone, clams are more popular than ever. Aquaculture has led to a safer, more consistent supply of clams on both sides of North America. In British Columia, for instance, farmed Manila clam production has risen by 40% since 1992 to around 450 tons. "We're struggling to meet demand", said one producer. And on the U.S. East Coast, producers continue to turn out value added clam products, from tiny IQF hard clams to steaks made from tenderized surf clams.
Clam Confusion
- Tired of all the government regulations surrounding the species you sell? Well, go find a new one. That is what North Carolina fisherman Lance Fisher thought he had done last year. He found a type of clam off the Carolina coast that he claimed was neither surf clam nor ocean quahog, and therefore was not subject to the NMFS surf clam/quahog management plan. But after intensive scientific scrutiny, several labs determined the clam to be a subspecies of surf clam subject to regulation.
- Surf clams (Spisula Solidissima) range from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to South Carolina and grow to about eight inches across. They are harvested by hydraulic dredge, with the largest hauls coming off New Jersey.
- The remarkable geoduck (Panope Generosa) can weigh up to 13 pounds but average around three, yielding about 1.5 pounds of meat. Thanks to an insatiable Asian market, geoducks have become British Columbia's fourth most valuable seafood resource, right behind halibut.
- On the East Coast, the Atlantic hardshell clam (Mercenaria Mercenaria) and the soft clam (Mya Arenaria) are the main clams sold in the shell, whereas on the West coast it is the Manila clam (Venerupis Japonica).
- Most hardshell clamming is done from a boat in a water from 12 to 45 feet with the clammer using an adjustable, long handled rake.
- Hard clams can be relayed, that is, moved from one growout site to another, a cleaner one, but soft clams don't survive the process.
Clam Comeback
In 1989, something terrible happened in the waters of Sandy Hook-Raritan Bay, New Jersey. The steamers disappeared. The steamer clams that locals had mined for generations all but vanished, victimized, some hypothesize, by a virus. But just as quickly and mysteriously as they disappeared, the clams returned. Millions of healthy clams have appeared in the bay this spring and should be market size by summer, just in time to feed the throngs of beachgoers looking for fried and steamed clams.
The above information is from the Seafood Leader.
|
next FAQ ...
cod
