Clam diggers in Tomales Bay and all through California have been banned from utilizing water pumps that state officers say put clam shares in danger and gasoline black market gross sales.
The California Fish and Recreation Fee voted unanimously on Wednesday to indefinitely prolong the emergency ban it adopted in early 2021 on using hydraulic pumps for clam harvesting. The hand-powered pumps, typically operated by two folks, primarily work to liquify the sand, permitting folks to reap clams discovered at higher depths and accumulate them sooner in comparison with utilizing a shovel.
State wildlife officers seen the pumps have turn out to be extra widespread within the final six years. A survey of Tomales Bay in spring 2019 discovered that 85% of the harvested clams have been harvested utilizing the pumps.
California Division of Fish and Wildlife environmental scientist Ian Kelmartin mentioned state wardens have been citing an increasing number of folks for overharvesting clams and located some have been even promoting the poached clams to eating places by means of the black market.
“We don’t know what meaning for clam shares with out additional examine,” Kelmartin mentioned. “It permits for simpler poaching and folk, normally, appear to be content material with the instruments they've and the boundaries which can be set for the fishery. It made sense for us to go ahead and make this regulation everlasting.”
Along with banning the pumps, the rule additionally prohibits anybody from possessing a hydraulic pump inside 100 yards of an space the place marine invertebrates may be harvested. Clam diggers would even be required to maintain their catch in their very own containers and never combine all of them into the identical container.
The ban doesn't apply to instruments reminiscent of clam weapons, which don’t use pressurized water. Along with clams, the ban additionally applies to utilizing the pumps to reap sand crabs and shrimp.
The usage of the hydraulic pumps had been a problem for a number of years at widespread clam digging areas on the mudflats of northern Tomales Bay. Lawson’s Touchdown co-owner Mike Lawson mentioned he has seen folks carrying away as a lot as 4 occasions the state harvesting limits for clams after just some hours.
“Every individual would have buckets and buckets,” Lawson mentioned.
Related points have been occurring in different clam digging areas reminiscent of Bodega Bay, Maverick’s Seashore and Humboldt Bay, Kelmartin mentioned.
Whereas it may be harder to dig for the clams, Lawson mentioned that's the means it needs to be.
“The sources should be maintained and guarded and, to me, this can be a step in the best route,” Lawson mentioned.
Samantha Murray, president of the California Fish and Recreation Fee, mentioned on Wednesday that an ongoing concern will likely be how effectively state wardens will be capable of implement the ban.
Rachel Clyde of the Environmental Motion Committee of West Marin advised the fee that the ban would “shield essential species reminiscent of eelgrass, stop unsustainable extraction and shield from overharvesting of intertidal species.”
The California Division of Fish and Wildlife plans to conduct extra surveys of clam shares and clam harvesting this summer time.
Whereas the state might reverse the ban sooner or later, Kelmartin mentioned surveys performed by the state final summer time discovered the prohibition was widespread. Of 825 clam diggers who have been surveyed, the state discovered 55% supported a ban versus 19% who supported permitting hydraulic pumps however with the potential of decrease harvesting limits.