HOW TO BE A SEA SCROUNGE
(Page 2 of 9)
(2) OBEY LOCAL REGULATIONS. Laws that regulate the harvest
of seafoods were not made to thwart your good life but to
protect it. Restrictions, such as those governing the size
and quantity of clams and crabs that may be gathered, allow
the species a chance to replenish themselves.
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(3) RESPECT PRIVATE PROPERTY. There's no need to get into a
trespassing hassle. Town docks and beaches are usually open
to the public, although nearby parking areas are sometimes
restricted to residents. If that's the case, park your car
somewhere else, walk in and ask an old-timer where to fish,
clam or crab. Old railroad beds, bridges, wharves and
public land are almost always OK.
(4) TAKE ONLY WHAT YOU CAN USE. It's a sad kind of murder
to gather too much seafood . . . and then let it just die
in a pail. All excess live critters should be put back to
survive and propagate.
CLAMS AND MUSSELS
Clams are dug and mussels are plucked at low tide . . . and
the soft-shell or steamer clam (also called the nannynose
or long clam in some parts) is especially easy to harvest.
The clam—found from North Carolina to Labrador on the
East Coast and from California to Alaska on the
West—digs itself only a few inches into sandy or
muckish mud between the high and low-tide lines. It feeds
itself by making a small access hole (through which it
extends its "neck" to siphon water) to the mud's surface.
This siphon hole is the clam's undoing because, if you
stamp your feet while walking across a good steamer clam
tidal flat, you'll be able to locate every one of the tasty
shellfish by the little squirt of water each sends up as it
retracts its neck.
Steamer clams tend to group and, when you've found one,
you've most likely found a lot of them. Check local
regulations to learn how many you may harvest, then grab a
basket and head for the flats. Almost any good digging tool
can be used for gathering steamers but there's a special
clamhook with long, thin prongs that makes the job easier
and is less damaging to the soft shells of this variety.
Foraging a meal-sized mess of nannynoses is generally a
quick and easy task.
You can clean the grit and mud from clams by hanging them
off the end of a dock in a wire basket (which will attract
a lot of fish and provide you with some truly superior
angling). You can also soak steamers (but noother saltwater clam) and fresh water shellfish in
a tub of fresh water to which you've added a handful of
cornmeal. Change the water and add new meal twice a day and
let the long clams clean themselves for 48 hours. Scrub the
clams before you cook them.
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