Current:Home > ScamsIn Rhode Island, a hunt is on for the reason for dropping numbers of the signature quahog clam -MoneyStream
In Rhode Island, a hunt is on for the reason for dropping numbers of the signature quahog clam
SafeX Pro Exchange View
Date:2025-04-08 16:51:38
Scientists, lawmakers, and those who make their living from Rhode Island’s Narragansett Bay are teaming up to hunt for the reason why quahogs appear to be on the decline.
Quahogs have a long history in the state. The shells of the large, hard-shelled clam were used by the indigenous Narragansett people as wampum. The clam itself is a staple of clam chowders and in 1987, the Rhode Island Legislature designated the quahog the official “Rhode Island State Shell.”
On Tuesday, a special Rhode Island legislative commission held a hearing to study the reduced catch. The commission is looking at a range of possible factors that may be contributing to a loss of the signature shellfish, from oxygen deficiency to changing aquatic life and climate change.
Quahogs — also known as little necks or cherry stones or chowder clams — are filter feeders drawing nutrients out of water columns. They don’t move much other than the first 2 to 3 weeks of their lives when they are larvae, according to Conor McManus, of the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management.
Quahogs will traditionally start spawning in mid-June first in coves along Narragansett Bay and progress through the season. A second large spawning can occur in July.
There was a peak in the harvest of quahogs in the 1950s before the dredging of the clams was banned. There was a second peak in the 1980s reflecting an improvement in water quality in the upper bay.
“Since then, we’ve seen a dramatic decline,” McManus said.
There’s also been a decline in the number of people trying to harvest quahogs from historical highs of more than 1,000 people down to about 400 people a decade or so ago, and now down to 150 to 200 people, he said.
McManus said the hunt for an answer to the quahog decline is complex. As an example, he pointed to events that might cause a drop in oxygen in the water.
Typically, those hypoxia events are seen as a negative for organisms, but there is also a competing theory that such episodes could help quahogs because it might force away potential predators.
“Over the course of a quahog’s life there is a lot of uncertainty,” he said.
Jim Boyd, a shellfisherman, said that less than half the number of quahogs is being harvested from Narragansett Bay compared to a decade ago and he and others who rely on quahogs need answers.
To the industry, it’s pretty clear that while there may be many factors for the drop, the primary driver is the reduction in nutrients needed for quahogs to thrive, he said.
“We really need the department and the universities to focus on this question for us because this industry is taking a significant hit over the last decade and our concern is that this is going to continue in the coming years,” Boyd said. “We’re seeing this slow, methodical decline in the abundance of quahogs throughout the bay.”
Other states along the Atlantic coast have also experienced declines in both quahogs as well as also oysters, bay scallops and soft-shell clams, according to McManus.
Quahogs feed on plankton. That also makes them key to the environment since plankton feeds on nitrates, which water treatment plants can’t filter out, making quahogs a natural source for filtering impurities out of the water, as well as being a sought-after food.
The commission is charged with reporting back to lawmakers by May 31, 2024.
veryGood! (166)
Related
- Macy's says employee who allegedly hid $150 million in expenses had no major 'impact'
- Breakout season ahead? In Kyle Hamilton, Ravens believe they have budding star
- United pilots miscommunicated. The NTSB says their error caused a plane to plunge more than 1,000 feet
- Coroner’s office releases names of third person killed in I-81 bus crash in Pennsylvania
- Justice Department, Louisville reach deal after probe prompted by Breonna Taylor killing
- Texas questions rights of a fetus after a prison guard who had a stillborn baby sues
- 3-year-old dies aboard migrant bus headed from Texas to Chicago
- South Carolina prosecutors say a woman was convicted of homicide in her baby’s death 31 years ago
- Juan Soto to be introduced by Mets at Citi Field after striking record $765 million, 15
- Some Maui residents question why they weren't told to evacuate as wildfire flames got closer
Ranking
- DeepSeek: Did a little known Chinese startup cause a 'Sputnik moment' for AI?
- Alabama high school basketball star Caleb White dies after collapsing during pickup game
- Timeline: The Trump investigation in Fulton County, Georgia
- The birth of trap music and the rise of southern hip-hop
- Why members of two of EPA's influential science advisory committees were let go
- Pilot and passenger presumed dead after aircraft crashes in Alaska's Denali National Park
- Ice cream sold in 19 states is recalled due to listeria outbreak
- Feeling lazy? La-Z-Boy's giving away 'The Decliner,' a chair with AI to cancel your plans
Recommendation
NHL in ASL returns, delivering American Sign Language analysis for Deaf community at Winter Classic
Fact checking 'Dreamin' Wild': Did it really take 30 years to discover the Emerson brothers' album?
Trump’s Iowa state fair spectacle clouds DeSantis as former president is joined by Florida officials
Child murderer run out of towns in 1990s faces new charges in 2 Texas killings
Angelina Jolie nearly fainted making Maria Callas movie: 'My body wasn’t strong enough'
The birth of trap music and the rise of southern hip-hop
Jodie Sweetin Disappointed Her New Movie Was Sold to Former Costar Candace Cameron Bure's Network
Woody Harrelson wears hat supporting RFK Jr. for president: 'Great seeing you'