Town of Waldoboro
Shellfish Conservation
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Notice Waldoboro Shellfish Harvesters
Conservation Closure
Effective May 12, 2007 the following described area will be closed for conservation:
That area known as “Deavers” inside and northerly of a line beginning at a red painted
post on the shore by CMP pole #28 on Deaver Rd. and extending east to a red painted post
located on the dock at 1430 Back Cove Rd.
This past year the Shellfish Conservation Committee has been working very hard
to come up with solutions to keep the Medomak River productive. In the 2005-2006
season we are trying something a little different. We are hoping to increase our
shellfish license fees to buy seed for the river in hopes of increasing production.
Our seeding practices have slowly been increased by the harvesters who have
participated in the conservation days. We hope in the future there will be more
participation and enthusiasm by harvesters and the community. We need support
for the new ideas produced by the Shellfish Conservation Committee and we also
need new ideas from you. We know that sometimes change can be a little hard to
swallow, but we need to do all that we can to help our river produce for future generations.
The Shellfish Conservation Committee was established by adoption of the Shellfish Conservation
Ordinance at the March 1992 annual town meeting. The purpose of the program is to insure the
protection and optimum utilization of shellfish resources and industry within the Town of Waldoboro.
The goals will be achieved by means which may include:
- Improve water quality,
- Licensing,
- Limiting the number of shellfish harvesters,
- Restricting the time and area where digging is permitted, and
- Limiting the minimum size of clams taken.
The Shellfish Management program consists of a limited number of activities or tasks.
The program is staffed with a part-time shellfish warden from March to November.
The warden works 40 weeks per year during this period at 32 hours per week, an equivalent
of 1,280 hours (0.61 FTE's).
- Shellfish License Allocation Program. In March of each year, the Shellfish
Conservation Committee must review the shellfish resources in consultation with the DMR
Regional Biologist to determine the number and types of shellfish licenses to sell and
request the allocation from DMR. This task has the greatest impact on the resource; a
number of towns rely solely on this activity to manage the resource.
- Establish Conservation Areas. This activity is designed to protect areas
that have been seeded from harvesting activity until the seed has reached legal size,
to set aside an area that doesn't freeze up in the winter for digging; and to rotate
with other conservation areas to even out the effort, particularly for areas prone to
over harvesting. Prior to closing or opening an area of a municipality to shellfish
harvesting, the municipality needs to review the status of the resource to be affected,
secure the recommendation of the Regional Biologist and receive approval of DMR.
- Establish Shellfish Harvesting Restrictions. The Shellfish Conservation Commission
is responsible for establishing in conjunction with DMR restricting amount, time or
season of harvest.
- Transplanting/Reseeding Program. A community must have a permit from the Maine
Department of Marine Resources (DMR) to harvest and possess undersized sublegal-sized
clams for the purpose of reseeding shellfish areas. The permit also allows the harvest
of seed clams from closed areas, provided the receiving flats are closed for six months.
The Shellfish Warden shall, in conjunction with the DMR area biologist, recommend an
annual transplanting/reseeding program. Subsequent to the adoption of the
transplanting/reseeding program by the Shellfish Committee, the Shellfish Warden will
manage the annual reseeding program which may include seed with hatchery stock and/or
reseeding from closed or high density areas and may include protective measures from
predation utilizing fences, traps, or nets, and enhancing spatfall with brush, fences
or nets.
Guidelines for the harvest of under sized clams require that the activity take place
during daylight hours, on designed days, and be under the supervision of the town's shellfish
warden or designee of the Shellfish Committee. All clams harvested must be less than 2" in
the longest diameter, the area must be marked by orange flags, there must be a designated
landing point, and the method and route of the transportation of product to the receiving
area must be submitted to DMR.
During the harvesting activities, harvest crew diggers shall remain in the same area,
close enough for immediate supervision of all diggers at all times by the supervisor.
- Shoreline Clean Up. The Shellfish Warden shall be responsible for undertaking an annual
shore line clean up in the spring during the month of May with the assistance of and under the
general direction of the Shellfish Committee.
- Annual Shellfish Management Review. An Annual Shellfish Management Review Report must
be submitted to DMR by March 1st for the previous year (January 1 - December 31). The Annual
Management Review Form is a 10-page document designed to address all aspects of a clam management
program. The plan allows DMR to monitor and evaluate the clam management activities in a
consistent manner to determine if the municipality is meeting its regulatory requirements under
Marine Resource Regulations, Chapter 7.
- Shellfish Warden Enforcement Activities Report. The Shellfish Warden shall complete a
monthly Shellfish Warden Enforcement Activities Report and submit it to the Police Department
for distribution to the Shellfish Committee, Office of the Town Manager and Office of the
Selectmen. The DMR also requires a copy of this report twice annually. For the period
January 1st to June 30th the report is due September 15th. For the period July 1st to
December 31th, the report is due by March 1st.
Ronald A. Aho
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INTRODUCTION - An area in Sampson Cove on the Medomak River was surveyed on 10/21/05 by
the Waldoboro Shellfish Committee with the assistance of students from Medomak Valley High School.
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METHOD - The upper inter tidal area was surveyed. Plots of 0.2 m2 were dug at 50' intervals
for a total of 23 plots. All clams removed were retained for measurement. Clams were measured to
the nearest ¼", rounding up. After all clams were measured, the information was entered into an
Excel spreadsheet to convert the lengths of the clams in inches to the volume of clams in bushels.
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RESULTS - The area surveyed was about 1.3 acres. A total of 403 clams were dug, of which 7,
or 1.7% of the total, were greater than 2" in length. The average length of all clams harvested was 1.2".
The average yield was about 85.8 bus/acre or 111.6 bushels for the whole area surveyed. The total
yield of clams for those greater than 2" in length was about 6.6 bus/acre or a total of 8.6 bushels
of commercial sized clams in the area surveyed.
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DISCUSSION - It is not possible to say how much the clams would increase in length during a
conservation closure, but it is not unreasonable to assume that the average increase might be ¾ of
an inch. Using this assumption, it's possible to make an estimate of the potential yield.
In the present example an increase of ¾" in length would result in a total yield of 305 bus/
acre with about 231 bushels being in the commercial size range.
In this case, the conservation closure in this very small cove would result in an increase
from 8.8 bushels to 231 bushels.
It is possible to estimate the value of this closure to the clammers. In 2004, the average
value of clams was about $75.00 / bushel. The increase in value from this closure would be from
$660 to $17,325 or an increase of $16,665.
