Clam ID

Can any of you ID these clams for me? We dug them up today at low tide, they are now in a bucket of salt water with Baggie of ice.

Would appreciate some ideas to prepare.

Butter Clams, looks like to me.

Fish on...

Todd

Butters no doubt about it, check for red tide warnings for the beach, they are usually the first to get it

You guys are right -mreyns i did ck and there is biotoxin closure. So I guess I will use for crab bait. I aint eatn. Bummer

Thanks Gents--we still had fun at the low tide

I just don't get it. Shouldn't a person know what they are harvesting BEFORE they harvest? There are seasons and bag limits even for clams and even if those clams were taken in season and the bag limits were observed, what if the poster had eaten them not knowing that there was a red tide warming in effect. The results could have been very bad.

Another aspect of this harvest is that the entire eastern beach line from approximately Tulalip to Tacoma is closed to harvest of clams, oysters and mussels under health restrictions as set forth in the current sport fishing rules.

The picture clearly shows Hat Island and Clinton so my guess is that digging was within that closed zone - between Mukilteo and Picnic Point.

Glad that you became aware of this before consuming them and that you didn't catch a ticket for digging in a closed area.

I will admit ignorance, but it would not be too much to ask the state to do some better advertising at closed beaches.-- it's not like I was the only one out there. For a person to find out needs to search the internet for shellfish closures.

I had not dug these type before-that is why I asked and appreciate the response

While I agree that signage would be helpful providing and maintaining adequate signage is expensive and may open up the State to lawsuits (not placed at EVERY access or not timely replaced when vandalized).

So the State makes a point of having a full page in the regs addressing health restriction closures. I just looked at the DOH website as referenced in WDFW's regs (https://fortress.wa.gov/doh/eh/maps/biotoxin/biotoxin.html) and it is quite detailed to include the area in question being closed due to pollution. I also noticed that some areas are closed to varnish and butter clams but not other types of shellfish.

After all of the money spent on waste water treatment over the last forty or so years it would be enlightening to know what type(s) of pollution is causing these large areas to remain closed.

Anyway, I guess the message here is that we all need to periodically go through the regs and particularly if we are going to a new area or want to participate in a new activity.

Harvest first, ask questions later??

Butters indeed.

They are the slowest to turnover the PSP toxin so they are often closed after everything else has been cleared by DOH.

BTW, mussels and oysters are typically the first to pick up PSP.

My recollection is that those areas were closed all at once to help prevent shellfish from non certified growing areas for reaching the commercial market, at the request of commercial growers.

Butter clams .I just dug a bunch myself. Take a knife and cut them in half,so half the clam id on each side of the shell. Take you thumb and scoop out the green part of the stomach,you'll see it,and wash out any sand. Let them drain in a colander shell side up for a few minutes and then lay them out on a cookie sheet or similar meat side up. Sprinkle a bit of salt,easy on the salt may not even be necessary, and peeper. Sprinkle a bit of flour on each one. Now get a large cast iron skillet or what ever you have and heat a bit of peanut oil,not too hot and lay the clams in meat side down. Cook them on the slow side until they brown. You might have to add some oil so the flour doesn't burn. If the are cooked right ,the muscles should release from the shell easily and the flour should make a nice crisp brown crust, Good luck. I don't worry about red tide warnings so much as they are very conservative in issuing warnings. There hasn't been a red tide death in this state for decades.

PS If you are worried about PSP,cut off the black tip on the neck. That's where the toxin accumulates the most.

I had a buddy who would just eat them until his lips tingled. it's a joke. do not try at home

If you feed them to your crabs, won't that transmit the PSP to them?

oh yeah, have a look at page 128 in the reg's . Pretty simple and clear.

This is pretty cool too http://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/shellfish/beaches/

Heh. I was out at Neah last weekend and some folks rented the kicker boat from Big Salmon. We came in at the time those guys came in. They had a halibut in their box. Fish checker was just done with them and walking away. I looked in their box (no ice of course). I asked them - you kept a halibut? "We didn't know what it was so we kept it."

-S

One more little tidbit for thought re: beach closures. Remember the flap over China alleging that testing of geoduck from WA showed contamination levels above that allowed? Those clams came from Poverty Bay which is north of Brown's Point and clearly within the area shown as closed by DOH and WDFW due to contamination. Now, it is possible that geoduck beds being in deeper water may not have the same issues as intertidal areas but it does pique my curiosity.

I have eaten clams and crab from that area my entire life and I have only had cancer once.

Mother's Day week-end and I stopped at the Thea Park at the entrance of the Thea waterway. Couldn't help but notice the warnings about not eating shellfish to include crab. And then all of the tribal crab pot buoys just outside the entrance. Sure am glad that the sign was keeping pollutants inside the waterway........and had me wondering which of the local retail places were selling that crab to the public.

Most of the area on the west side of puget sound (cross hatched area) is actually within health standards and has been for some time. Why it is open to tribal clam sales but not open to recreational harvest is either a total injustice or a trade off for something else.

Spoke with a rep from Pierce Co. DOH and his input was that the closure along the I-5 corridor is the result of storm water runoff contaminated with coliform bacteria (clean up after your dogs!) with outfalls often in shallow water (versus sanitary sewer treatment facility outfalls being in deep water). When I inquired as to how often those beaches are tested he referred me to the State DOH.

As to tribal geoduck harvest in Poverty Bay he said the tribe(s) asked about it and apparently the 'ducks were tested and found within limits. So, back to the question as to how often the beaches are tested and whether they are really contaminated so as to preclude harvest 12 months out of the year.

watch this...


edit, nevermind that link, use this..