Pismo Beach wants to protect its clams. Would a harvesting season help?
Summertime swimmers couldn’t miss the Pismo clam even if they wanted to — as countless iconic shellfish have been tumbling in the surf at Pismo Beach in recent months.
Scientists don’t know why the population recently rebounded, so the city of Pismo Beach is taking steps to protect the shellfish before this clam cohort is overfished.
On Sept. 2, the Pismo Beach City Council made progress toward establishing a clamming season, which would allow people to harvest Pismo clams from Sept. 1 to April 30, while prohibiting clamming during the rest of the year.
Pismo Beach was once considered the clam capital of the world, before the Pismo clam disappeared from SLO County shores in the 1990s due to overfishing, according to the city.
Legal-sized clams, which must be 4.5 inches wide or larger to harvest, started resurfacing at Pismo Beach about a decade ago — but scientists aren’t confident that the clam population is stable.
Unpredictable ocean conditions likely determine how many baby clams survive to adulthood, according to Cal Poly Center for Coastal Marine Sciences director Ben Ruttenberg. He said it’s important that people don’t overfish the shellfish before the ocean conditions are supportive enough for another batch of baby clams to get established.
In the meantime, the city’s goal is “to protect and preserve the existing clams that are already out there,” Pismo Beach assistant city manager Mike James told The Tribune.
Pismo Beach takes step toward setting up a clamming season
At the meeting, the City Council directed staff to submit an electronic application to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to establish the clamming season for Sept. 1 to April 30.
The summer is spawning season for the clams, so it’s best to avoid handling them during that time, Ruttenberg said. By September, most of the clams would already have spawned, so harvesting them would be less disruptive to their population growth, he said.
City staff plan to submit the petition by the end of the year, James said. Then, the state will review the petition and potentially request edits. Once the state accepts the petition, the California Fish and Game Commission will vote on the new rules at a public hearing, James said.
The process could take up to two years.
The City Council also directed staff to collaborate with Cal Poly researchers and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to determine if a limit of 10 clams per person per day was enough to protect the shellfish population — or if the city should reduce the daily catch limit to a lower number.
This process could take years while Cal Poly researchers develop a model to study the clam population, Ruttenberg said.
What are SLO County rules for legally harvesting clams?
In San Luis Obispo County, a person can only harvest 10 Pismo clams a day, and they must be at least 4.5 inches wide.
Each clammer must also have a valid fishing license and an accurate measuring device, and they can only harvest clams from half an hour before sunrise to half an hour after sunset. People must also bring a clam fork, a caliper and a bucket of seawater per person.
If clammers dig up a clam that’s too small, they must rebury the mollusk immediately. The process involves digging a small, 2-inch deep hole in the wet sand where the water will reach it.
Then pick up the clam, and look at the hinge side to find its ligament, which is a small, fleshy bump. Place the clam in the hole with the hinge side facing towards the ocean and the ligament facing up, and bury the clam 6 to 8 inches deep in the sand.
If you see someone poaching clams, call the CalTip line at 888-334-2258.
