NEWBURYPORT — Native clams will be on the menu just in time for the holiday weekend, after the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries declared yesterday that area shellfish are free of red tide and once again safe for human consumption.
The environmental agency yesterday released results from a series of tests declaring levels of the Alexandrium fundyense toxin — known as red tide — had continued to diminish in Plum Island Sound softshell clams and mussels for the last 15 days, the minimum requirement before flats can be reopened for harvesting following a red tide outbreak.
Plum Island Sound is scheduled to reopen this morning at sunrise for the taking of softshell clams and mussels. Nowhere is that news more heartily embraced than here on the North Shore, which is anticipating a massive influx of Fourth of July celebrants to its beaches and seaside restaurants this weekend.
"It's a blessing to have these places open up," said Gordon Blaney, owner of David's Seafood Market on Route 1 in Salisbury.
Blaney supplies most of the restaurants in Newburyport with steamers and frying clams, as well as many establishments along the coast from Salisbury north to Hampton Beach. While he's been getting some native clams from a small area in Essex that opened up last week, they may not have offered enough supply to meet the demands of the holiday weekend.
"This is probably the biggest steamer weekend of the year," Blaney said. "Traditionally it's the biggest (summer) weekend for us."
Rowley Shellfish Constable Jack Grundstrom expressed similar relief. He said he has been fielding calls all week from shellfishermen growing impatient with the state and its testing guidelines. When areas of Essex were opened to softshell clam digging last week, they wondered why Rowley, Newbury and other parts of Ipswich hadn't been opened as well, after getting two clean tests from Plum Island Sound earlier in the month.
"We're all very perplexed here as you can well imagine," Grundstrom said. "There's nobody that wants shellfish areas closed when there's a problem any more than the clam diggers do, but when we can dig, we want to dig."
Grundstrom said many diggers depend on a good summer yield to make it through the year, and with June already lost to red tide, he cited one digger who was buying necessities for his family with rolls of quarters.
Grundstrom said he does not object to the closures but wishes the state would test more frequently following an outbreak to get diggers back to work again as soon as possible.
"I'm very discouraged with what's going on," Grundstrom said. "It's two different worlds the way the DMF helps out the diggers, versus officials in Maine."
Division of Marine Fisheries biologist Paul Somerville said this year's outbreak is one of the worst he can recall in his 20 years of working in the industry, with numerous areas affected with higher concentrations of the toxic algae than ever before.
"The bloom has gone all the way down from the New Hampshire border, all the way to Cape Cod Bay," Somerville said. "This is the first time Boston Harbor's been closed in almost 30 years."
"We're seeing counts higher than normal, too," he said. "Usually we'd see (concentrations) in the 500s, and we're seeing them in the 1,000s."
Somerville said despite the confusion among shellfishermen about opening dates, he said the state laws are clear. Levels must be on the decline for a period of 15 days prior to opening up the shellfishing beds. Since the first "clean" test came out of Plum Island Sound on June 19, the Fourth of July was the earliest possible date for a reopening, and he said the North Shore was a priority for his department.
"Last week when we had a choice of what to sample this week, N4 (Plum Island Sound) was a priority to sample because we knew we had a chance to get it back," Somerville said.
Razor clams, sea clams and carnivorous snails are still off-limits, due to the length of time red tide stays in their systems. The state has also reopened the Annisquam River in Gloucester for the taking of clams and mussels. Essex Harbor, which opened early for softshell clam harvesting, is still not reopened for the digging of mussels.
Somerville reminds diggers that rain closures are in effect in a few areas, and they should contact their area shellfish departments prior to heading out. He's keeping his fingers crossed that rainfall stays below the half-inch threshold in the near future and was happy to share good news of the reopening with shellfish constables yesterday afternoon.
"They're as excited as we are that people are going to be going back there," Somerville said.
Grundstrom said diggers are ready and rearing to go.
"They're all very happy and will be out there to dig," he said. "It will put some money in their pockets to buy food for the holiday."
Grundstrom said there's a new area open to diggers — Mud Creek — that hasn't been open for several years.
"It's going to be excellent digging for the guys," he said.
