Maine Municipal Shellfish News

This page contains news of local, regional and state issues and events. A calendar of events to be attended by staff concludes the page. Use these links to view each section or simply scroll down the page.

Your comments and suggestions are welcome.

STATE

What is going on at the state level.

Annual Management Review

The 2007 Annual Management Review forms were mailed to all of the Shellfish Committees in early December with a March 1st deadline. The purposes of the review are: 1) to document and discuss the conservation activities of the past year, 2) to plan and document the proposed activities for the coming year and 3) to determine if the municipality is meeting its regulatory requirements under the Municipal Shellfish Conservation Program - DMR Regulations: Chapter 7. Each program will be evaluated on management performance and reporting compliance .
A new page was added to the Review to capture additional information on spatfall enhancement and predator protection. There is a need to bring the level of information on these activities closer to that currently obtained for surveys, reseeding and conservation closures. The new page will also have a section on other activities such as school projects, coastal cleanups and participation in regional councils.

Soft-shell Clam Advisory Council

"The Maine Soft-shell Clam Advisory Council was established to provide a forum for stake holders to discuss issues and policies relating to soft-shell clam management and to resolve problems and address needs through teaming and creative thinking. The Council consists of between 12 and 15 member appointed by the Commissioner and representing the industry, municipal clam management and the scientific/education community. DMR personnel provide support and technical advice to the Council. The Council serves in a policy advisory capacity to the Commissioner." -Excerpted from the Maine Soft-shell Clam Advisory Council Bylaws.
Unofficial minutes of the most recent Council meetings are available.

Fishermen's Forum

Red Tide and Water Quality was the the main topic of discussion at the Clam Day session at the annual Fishermen's Forum held at the Samoset Resort in Rockport on March 2nd. The Clam Day session is organized by the Maine Soft-shell Clam Advisory Council and sponsored by the DMR.

Closed Areas Online

The Public Health Division of the DMR is now posting areas closed to the taking of shellfish due to pollution on the DMR website. A legal description and map of each area is available. See Shellfish Closed Area Inventory.

Shellfish Regulations: Chapter 9

New shellfish regulations, which deal with shellfish sanitation in harvesting and designated Chapter 9, are now law. After a lengthy period of public meetings and public hearings, the new regulations were passed by the Marine Resources Advisory in May. An in service training session on Chapter 9 enforcement was held for all Marine Patrol Officers. To ensure that harvesters are aware of the new regs and have sufficient time to comply, Marine Patrol will observe a four to six month grace period.

LOCAL

What is going on at the Southern Maine Regional Office - activities involving the staff.

Clam Management Forms

Annual Review

In an effort to make conducting the Annual Shellfish Management Review as convenient as possible for the Shellfish Committees, this office has developed a couple of new Annual Review Form formats. Both are computer based. The first is a download able Microsoft Word document that is a "fill in the blanks" form that can be completed on a personal computer, printed and mailed or e-mailed directly to DMR. The second is a web page form. It is also a "fill in the blanks" design that when completed is automatically sent to DMR. Click on the following links to access these forms: Annual Review 05 (Word), Annual Review 05 (Web).

Other Forms

Because of the popularity of the Annual Review web form, web forms have been developed for the other clam management forms familiar to the shellfish committees. They include the shellfish license allocation request, the transplant permit and the conservation closure notification. There has also been a call to include a web form for reporting clam survey data. All of the aforementioned web forms can be accessed through this web site. .

GPS-GIS

This office has developed the use of Global Positioning System (GPS) hardware and Geographic Information System (GIS) software in clam flat surveys and wetland alteration reviews. A Trimble Geoexplorer 3 GPS unit with Pathfinder Office GIS software was obtained by the Watershed Division a few years ago. The unit and software allow the acquisition and processing of both location and attribute data. Considerable field testing of the site reviews function has been accomplished and limited field testing of the clam survey function has taken place. Two reports were completed detailing the use of GPS-GIS and can be viewed by clicking on the following links, one for clam flat surveys and the other for wetland alteration reviews. These reports were submitted to the powers that be but were received without enthusiasm. The advent of paperless surveys and site visits, automatic mapping and integration with the State GIS appears to be a long time coming, if at all.

Clam Flat Survey Analysis

One of the services provided by this office is the analysis of clam flat survey data generated by municipalities utilizing the standard DMR survey procedure. This service is provided regardless of the source of data be it volunteers, commercial diggers or consultants. The analysis includes size distribution, average density and estimated standing crop of the surveyed clam population. A projection of the number of licensed harvesters each surveyed flat can support (utilizing a formula developed by Chris Heinig of MER Associates) is also provided. The town of Cumberland was the most recent to take advantage of this service but most municipalities conducting clam surveys in this region participate.

Portsmouth Naval Shipyard - RAB

The Regional Biologist of this office is a natural resource trustee representative on the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard Restoration Advisory Board (RAB). The Board itself is primarily composed of local citizens and representative of state and federal government who review Super Fund activities and advise the Navy in the cleanup of hazardous wastes. The RAB meets every two or three months in the Portsmouth/Kittery area. For the latest: RAB Update.

Casco Bay Estuary Project

The Regional Biologist of this office is the Department of Marine Resources representative on the Casco Bay Estuary Project (CBEP) Board of Directors. He also serves on the CBEP Habitat Restoration Committee and Clam Team. For more information , go to the CBEP web site .

Friends of Phippsburg

The Regional Biologist of this office has accepted a position on the Board of Directors for the Friends of Phippsburg. The Friends of Phippsburg is a nonprofit volunteer organization dedicated to the preservation and enhancement of the community of Phippsburg as an historic, cultural, educational, recreational and economic asset. The Friends of Phippsburg will work to identify and obtain the necessary resources to maintain the existing character of the community while enhancing the lives of community members and visitors with community based programs and services. This would include working with the necessary local, state and federal government on shared projects, programs and natural resources.

REGION

What is going on in the Southern Maine Region.

Clam Flat Surveys

The Town of Freeport led the clam survey effort last year surveyed approximately a third of their productive clam flats in April.

Reseedings

The Town of Harpswell led the reseeding effort last year conducting four reseedings in March. The towns of Brunswick, Kittery, Phippsburg and West Bath also conducted reseedings last spring.

Strange Clam

A few commercial harvesters have found a clam in West Bath that looks similar to a soft-shell clam but definitely is not. A bivalve with thin white shells about 2" in length and a slightly tapered siphon about 5" long, this clam is an Atlantic Mud-piddock (Barnea truncata). Also known as a Fallen Angel Wing or Truncate Borer, this clam is more common in New York and New Jersey. A boring clam related to the False Angel Wing, its normal habitat is within peat or clay. Its occurrence may be signaling a seawater warming trend; diggers are also reporting seeing more quahogs, which prefer warmer waters.

Phippsburg harvesters have found a clam that they have never seen before. It looks like a short and fat razor clam and once keyed out was found to be, unsurprisingly, a Stout Razor Clam (Tagelus plebeius). It normally occurs from Cape Cod to the Gulf of Mexico.

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

February

6th: Brunswick Shellfish Committe Meeting
7th: Freeport Shellfish Committee Meeting
12th: Scarborough Shellfish Committee Meeting
13th: Biddeford Shellfish Committee Meeting
18th: Holiday - Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
19th: Yarmouth Shellfish Committee Meeting
22nd: Falmouth Shellfish Committee Meeting
26th: Harpswell Shellfish Committee Meeting
27th: West Bath Shellfish Committee Meeting
28th: Fishermen's Forum - Clam Day
28th: Phippsburg Shellfish Committee Meeting

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MUNICIPAL SHELLFISH MANAGEMENT