Volunteers sought for clam survey

By Tara Nelson

The Whatcom County Marine Resources Committee is looking for volunteers for its first post clam-seeding survey scheduled for September 8.

The project is part of a joint pilot study by the MRC and Whatcom County Public Works to test the method for planting clams, said Atina Casas, a spokesperson for the agency’s storm water division. If successful, the same methods will be used to plant little neck clams, which are indigenous to Birch Bay but have decreased in populations over the past 20 years.

“You don’t find as many little necks as you used to,” she said. “The thought is that if we can reseed the areas that used to have them, maybe they will make a come-back.”

Casas said volunteers will perform additional surveys to monitor the clams’ growth and survival rate each year for the next three years.
“At that point, they should be harvestable size,” she said.

The first survey is scheduled for 8 a.m. on Saturday, September 8 at the Cottonwood Beach parking area between Beachway Drive and Cedar Avenue on Birch Bay Drive. For more information, call 360/715-7450