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Author Topic: Time To Clam Up!  (Read 3260 times)

CLAMFARMER

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Time To Clam Up!
« on: May 15, 2018, 11:19 AM »
"We have not given up on traditional clamming, but our findings show that we must adapt the fishery to the changed environmental and biological conditions. This will require extraordinary measures that challenge management practices still clinging to a time when coastal winters were long and bitter cold, and when ice left the rivers and heads of coves in early March rather than late January or even earlier. In the warming seawater, settling clams now face armies of predators in their quest for survival.

New clam management measures need to be instituted with a goal of increasing clam numbers enough to swamp out predation. These include: 1) abandoning the 2-inch size requirement for clams in favor of a maximum (3.5 inches) and new minimum (1.5 inches) size limits for harvesting, which is similar to measures in both the lobster and sea urchin fisheries; and 2) setting up rolling 2-3 week regional closures from west to east along the coast during late May through early July to allow clams to spawn before being harvested. In addition, it’s time for communities that manage intertidal clam populations to be held responsible for testing the efficacy of their conservation programs and projects.”

http://bangordailynews.com/2018/05/14/opinion/contributors/how-maine-can-save-its-historic-clamming-industry/
\"It has always been my private conviction that any man who pits his intelligence against a fish and loses has it coming.”<br />

CLAMFARMER

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Re: Time To Clam Up!
« Reply #1 on: May 15, 2018, 11:21 AM »
I know, “Fake News”, right.  :(

"This will require extraordinary measures that challenge management practices still clinging to a time when coastal winters were long and bitter cold, and when ice left the rivers and heads of coves in early March rather than late January or even earlier. In the warming seawater, settling clams now face armies of predators in their quest for survival.”
\"It has always been my private conviction that any man who pits his intelligence against a fish and loses has it coming.”<br />

thedirtydirtyfisherman

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Re: Time To Clam Up!
« Reply #2 on: May 15, 2018, 12:22 PM »
The green crab... its an awful invasive species

zwiggles

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Re: Time To Clam Up!
« Reply #3 on: May 15, 2018, 12:25 PM »
They just need all your monies to make it happen....

CLAMFARMER

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Re: Time To Clam Up!
« Reply #4 on: May 15, 2018, 12:39 PM »
They just need all your monies to make it happen....
Did you read the piece? It about a shift in management practices, not dollars spent. Putting an upper limit on size will protect brood stock. Please read the piece.
\"It has always been my private conviction that any man who pits his intelligence against a fish and loses has it coming.”<br />

CLAMFARMER

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Re: Time To Clam Up!
« Reply #5 on: May 15, 2018, 12:44 PM »
They just need all your monies to make it happen....
I’m Chair the the Frenchman Bay Regional Shellfish Program. Will will likely institute these changes on our own next year. No one wants to buy the big ones anyway. Still, many diggers take them and waste kill  them after the dealers reject them. Makes a lot of sense, doesn’t it.
\"It has always been my private conviction that any man who pits his intelligence against a fish and loses has it coming.”<br />

zwiggles

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Re: Time To Clam Up!
« Reply #6 on: May 15, 2018, 12:52 PM »
But reading is hard....

“Unfortunately, coastal communities with clamming habitat often do not have the resources to protect hundreds to thousands of acres of intertidal flats from predators.”

“Given the historic and economic importance of the fishery to Maine, this is a critical time for Maine’s Legislature to put a clam fund in place to encourage applied research focusing on adapting to a changing marine environment during a time when clam landings have ebbed to record lows.”

Fortunately they plan to use Monopoly money....


CLAMFARMER

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Re: Time To Clam Up!
« Reply #7 on: May 15, 2018, 01:08 PM »
But reading is hard....

“Unfortunately, coastal communities with clamming habitat often do not have the resources to protect hundreds to thousands of acres of intertidal flats from predators.”

“Given the historic and economic importance of the fishery to Maine, this is a critical time for Maine’s Legislature to put a clam fund in place to encourage applied research focusing on adapting to a changing marine environment during a time when clam landings have ebbed to record lows.”

Fortunately they plan to use Monopoly money....

Yeah, reading can be difficult and understanding only comes with active cognizance. You utterly miss the point of the entire piece and quote the last bit that suggest a fund similar to lobster and scallop funds. The main thrust of the piece is management the costs nothing but time and choices to leave brood stock.

Dr Beal, I and others have dome a lot of work in this area and see what is going on. My area alone supports over 60 commercial harvesters and their families. to a tune over over 1 million $. Management is key, FIRST AND LAST. Funding some such relevant research TO SUPPORT A MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR INDUSTRY ON OUR STATE, is a good idea. Best management practices cane be better honed and be highly effective in buoying one of the last remaining industries where people live off the work they do directly by and for themselves. 

MAYBE YOU SHOULD REREAD THE ARICLE, Zwiggles, with the intent of full grasp of the issue and understanding of the science needed to insure and discover best practices.

\"It has always been my private conviction that any man who pits his intelligence against a fish and loses has it coming.”<br />

GasBlaster

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Re: Time To Clam Up!
« Reply #8 on: May 15, 2018, 01:33 PM »
      Funding some such relevant research TO SUPPORT A MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR INDUSTRY ON OUR STATE, is a good idea. 

Humm someone must be running out of grant money ??

CLAMFARMER

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Re: Time To Clam Up!
« Reply #9 on: May 15, 2018, 01:34 PM »
But reading is hard....

Fortunately they plan to use Monopoly money....

I suppose the real question for you, zwigles is why did you immediately go negative on a completely objective piece given to protecting and enhancing a Maine staple form of income and way of life, a way of life that sustains really free people, their families and a whole industry that flows from it from them to seafood dealers, restaurants, the tourist industry and puts money directly into the hands and mouths of the people that earn it also realizing that their money gets spent here, where we all live, in Maine.  8)
\"It has always been my private conviction that any man who pits his intelligence against a fish and loses has it coming.”<br />

GasBlaster

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Re: Time To Clam Up!
« Reply #10 on: May 15, 2018, 01:36 PM »
 I saw a story on the fake news the other day.     A restaurant in Brunswick I think was cooking the green crabs ????? First I have heard of them being eaten ??

https://www.pressherald.com/2017/07/23/green-plate-special-green-crabs-have-invaded-and-if-you-cant-beat-em-eat-em/

CLAMFARMER

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Re: Time To Clam Up!
« Reply #11 on: May 15, 2018, 01:52 PM »
First, nearly every town in Maine has a shellfish management plan. The state has one as well. Lobster fund, just for instance:
§6451. Lobster Fund
1. Allocation of license fees.
[ 2017, c. 284, Pt. EEEEE, §5 (RP) .]
1-A. Lobster Fund established.   The Lobster Fund is established within the department. The Lobster Fund receives surcharge fees collected pursuant to section 6421, subsection 7-C. Funds deposited in the Lobster Fund must be used for the purposes of lobster biology research, propagation of lobsters by liberating seed lobsters and female lobsters in the State's coastal waters and establishing and supporting lobster hatcheries.
[ 2017, c. 284, Pt. EEEEE, §6 (NEW) .]
2. Purchases; liberation.  The commissioner may authorize the expenditure of the money in the Lobster Fund for the purpose of purchasing seed lobsters from Maine lobster pound owners and female lobsters from wholesale seafood license holders. The commissioner shall establish the purchase price for seed and female lobsters after consultation with the industry. The commissioner shall give priority to purchasing seed lobsters.
[ 1979, c. 127, §85 (AMD) .]
3. Liberation and v-notching.  The commissioner may provide purchased seed lobsters to lobster hatcheries. The remaining seed and all other female lobsters shall be liberated in the coastal waters after v-notching them in the right flipper. The right flipper shall be determined as established under section 6436, subsection 1.
[ 1985, c. 237, §2 (RPR) .]
4. Program.  The commissioner may authorize the expenditure of money in the Lobster Fund for research and development programs which address the restoration, development or conservation of lobster resources.
[ 1985, c. 237, §2 (RPR) .]
5. Nonlapsing fund.  The Lobster Fund shall not lapse.
[ 1977, c. 661, §5 (NEW) .]
6. Lobster hatcheries.  The commissioner, with the advice of the Lobster Advisory Council, may authorize expenditure of money from the Lobster Fund, any available funds and, as appropriated by the Legislature, the General Fund to make grants in support of the establishment and operation of lobster hatcheries. The grants shall be for a one-year period and shall be renewable indefinitely upon successful reapplication. There shall be no more than 5 lobster hatcheries supported under this section. The commissioner shall develop rules, including biological and economic criteria for evaluating proposals. The commissioner shall require the grantee to keep a log of activities regarding the hatchery and shall require a written report at the termination of each grant.
[ 1987, c. 406, (RPR) .]
7. Lobster Advisory Council.  The commissioner shall consult with the Lobster Advisory Council on the expenditure of funds under this section.
[ 1985, c. 237, §3 (NEW) .]
8. Apprentice program.  The commissioner may authorize the expenditure of money in the Lobster Fund to cover the initial costs of developing and delivering the educational component of the apprentice program under section 6422, subsection 3. Any expenditures must be reimbursed to the Lobster Fund from the fees charged under section 6422, subsection 3.
[ 1995, c. 468, §9 (NEW) .]
\"It has always been my private conviction that any man who pits his intelligence against a fish and loses has it coming.”<br />

CLAMFARMER

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Re: Time To Clam Up!
« Reply #12 on: May 15, 2018, 01:53 PM »
I saw a story on the fake news the other day.     A restaurant in Brunswick I think was cooking the green crabs ????? First I have heard of them being eaten ??

https://www.pressherald.com/2017/07/23/green-plate-special-green-crabs-have-invaded-and-if-you-cant-beat-em-eat-em/
Real story. They have been eaten and worked with fro quite some time. I see you actually view real news on occasion.
\"It has always been my private conviction that any man who pits his intelligence against a fish and loses has it coming.”<br />

zwiggles

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Re: Time To Clam Up!
« Reply #13 on: May 15, 2018, 01:55 PM »
Yeah, reading can be difficult and understanding only comes with active cognizance. You utterly miss the point of the entire piece and quote the last bit that suggest a fund similar to lobster and scallop funds.....

MAYBE YOU SHOULD REREAD THE ARICLE, Zwiggles, with the intent of full grasp of the issue and understanding of the science needed to insure and discover best practices.

I have read the article. Twice.

I pointed out that the group in question wants money.

You refuted that point and told me to read the article.

I then quoted the article where, in my opinion, they either asked or hinted at the fact that they want money.

Did the article not ask for the legislature to set up a fund? Are they not going to use money to fill the fund?

I know I’m young, out of state, and naive, but again why,if it is just a change in mgmt policy, does this need to involve anyone besides the people making their living off the clams?

If this article was about a group of concerned citizens who had set up an awesome plan to fix a problem, I don’t think anyone would have an issue with it. I certainly would applaud the efforts of those involved.

To be clear, In your opinion the article does not ask for money correct?

PK186

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Re: Time To Clam Up!
« Reply #14 on: May 15, 2018, 02:19 PM »
Has anyone tested these clams for fire retardant from childrens clothing and furniture? Drugs and household cleaning chemicals from sewer discharge? Round Up and others chemicals from farming including manure residue? The list of crap fed to clams these days is endless. I haven't eaten clams for years. Everything ends up in the sea.

 



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