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03/18/2020 07:59 AMAfter a 35-year state ban and years of restoration work, recreational shellfish beds reopened in Clinton in 2019. With a successful first year completed, the Shellfish Commission looks to build on that success and spread the word about Clinton’s recreational shellfishing.
This year, the beds have been open since Jan. 1 and will close April 30. They’ll reopen from Dec. 1 to 31. Due to serious interest from residents, the Shellfish Commission is looking to spread the word about the beds.
Last year the town sold about 60 licenses, according to Shellfish Commission Chair Wayne Church. So far in 2020, Church says they’ve far surpassed that.
“A lot of people have been interested, people are very passionate about this,” Church said. “We’ve gotten hundreds of voicemails.”
In October 2019, the commission seeded about 10,000 clams in the beds. Church said the commission is likely to do thousands more in October 2020. Many of the clams are of market size, which means that the clams can be taken home and eaten, according to Church.
It’s not an uncommon sight to see several people out shellfishing when the low tides sync up with a weekend according to Church.
“We have a very passionate and tight-knit community,” he said.
Currently, the approved area for shellfishing extends south from a line drawn from Clinton Town Beach Rock Jetty Shellfish Marker due west to the southern edge of Clinton Harbor Channel to the red buoy marking the Clinton Harbor entrance to the shellfish marker on Hammock Point. Church said there are hopes to extend the area further in the future.
The commission has been providing water samples that are tested to make sure the water meets the regulations needed so the beds can open for recreational shellfishing.
“Everything looks really good from the water samples, but more data points are needed,” said Church.
Per an agreement with the state, if the beds receive an inch and a half of rain in a 24-hour period, the beds have to be closed and water samples tested. This happened a few times since the beds have been reopened, but Church said the beds have been reopened within a day or two of the samples being collected.
Clinton’s shellfish beds were once the source of regionally famous oysters, but then the oysters began succumbing to disease. Pollution also affected the beds’ ability to grow edible shellfish and so they were closed.
In 2004 the town began a serious effort to reopen the beds, but those efforts were dealt serious setbacks by Tropical Storm Irene and Superstorm Sandy.
As part of the process of opening the beds, periodic water and oyster samples were required to be sent to the Department of Agriculture Bureau of Aquaculture (DABA). In September 2018, DABA representatives presented the results of the surveys that cleared the way for the beds to open.
Shellfishing licenses are available through the commission and Town Clerk’s Office. For a resident, the cost is $25 or $15 for seniors or those in military service. For nonresidents, the cost is $75 and $65 for non-resident senior or military members. A driver’s license or other proof of residency is required.
More information and maps are available at clintonshellfish.org.