Third generation clammer feels pinch from closed beaches

PSP can cause paralysis, loss of muscular coordination and sometimes can be life threatening. Harvesting of bi-value mollusks such as oysters, clams, mussels, scallops, quahogs and whelks is prohibited. “Last year we were faced with the closures from the [Digby] sewage treatment plant, this year it’s red tide,” says Kenneth Weir, co-chair of the Clammers Association in Clam Harvest Area 2.

Weir started digging for clams at the age of eight. He is now 42. His father and grandfather clammed before him. “I love clamming, it’s in my blood,” he said. “It’s not a job, it’s a tradition for us.”

With beaches in Smith’s Cove, Bear River and other locations closed, Weird said “it corrals all the people on two or three beaches and they pound the guts out of that.”

At one time a clammer could dig 120 to 130 pounds of clams in a day, but those numbers have lowered, as have the numbers of diggers. Today there are 275 harvesters in the Digby-Annapolis area. “One time there were 700 harvesters living at this job,” Weir said.

Trouble began about 25 years ago when 80 per cent of the clam population was lost because of the tidal park installation at Annapolis Royal, Weir says.

Understanding there are more bad years than good associated with clamming, Weir has worked out west to make money.

With a wife and two children at home, he said he does not want his son to get into the clamming business. “I say within the next five to 10 years I’ll be out of a job anyway,” he added.

One of Weir’s issues is the lack of enforcement from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.

DFO fishery officer Eldon Young of Digby said the department staff role is to post areas once they are established as being contaminated.

DFO then does patrols and enforce compliance to make sure people are aware of what the signs mean, and to prosecute offenders if necessary.

For the Annapolis Basin in the summer the recreational limit is 100 clams of 44 millimetres (1.73 inches) in length, said Young. “We do make sure people are aware of this.”

The clammers association has spoken with West Nova MP Greg Kerr and “asked for a buyout for at least half the licenses,” said Weir.

They also asked for a management plan to bring clam harvesting to a 120-pound limit and a larger 50 mm (two inches) size.

They are awaiting word on their requests, he said.

The clammers association has a management plan for reseeding the clam beds, said Weir.

Weir said the current cposures mean now is a good time to start enhancing beaches and reseeding clam beds.

The harvesters were successful three years ago in reseeding the beach in Smith’s Cove.

If they received funding for the process, Weir believes the clam industry would be booming again in three years or so.

He estimates about 30 to 40 clammers actually making a living from digging. If things keep going the way they are, Weir said, that number could be cut in half next year.