DAN AYRES COULDN’T believe what he was seeing late last August on the northern half of the beach at Kalaloch.
Propped against a piece of driftwood and answering some early-morning emails on his phone, Ayres, the state Department of Fish and Wildlife’s coastal shellfish manager, was approached by an excited biologist and told to come down near the surf.
A four-party team of biologists from Fish and Wildlife, Olympic National Park and the Hoh and Quinault tribes, had struck the mother lode while conducting a test dig for razor clams on a beach that hasn’t opened for recreational harvest since the 2011-12 season.
Using the “Pumped Area Method” the crew pumped water up the beach and liquified the sand within a 1/2-square meter aluminum ring.
“We documented as many as 230 to 250 small clams about 2 inches in length in each 1/2-square meter sample,” Ayres said.
Typically, a haul of five or six clams in a test area is considered exceptional, according to Ayres.
“If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes I don’t think I would have believed it, it was so mind-boggling,” Ayres said.
“I’ve been doing testing like this since 1980 and have never seen anything like that. The density of clams was off the charts.”
The state’s Razor Clam Management assessment had this to say: “Never before, on any beach, has such a dense population of razor clams been documented.”
The small size of the clams precluded a 2015-16 harvest season, but Ayres is hopeful about clam diggers returning to Kalaloch this fall for the first time in years.
He said Fish and Wildlife crews have returned to the beach twice since last summer, the most recent trip coming in January.
“We didn’t do the full assessment at that time, but I can qualitatively can say there are a lot of clams on that stretch of beach,” Ayres said.
“The clams have grown, most are around 3 inches.
“If marine toxins aren’t an issue and those density numbers are even close, my best guess is we will be looking at some sort of harvest this fall,” Ayres said.
Kalaloch is co-managed by the state, Olympic National Park and the tribes, so all groups will be part of the final decision.
“The tribes were there, parks were there, we didn’t have to convince anybody about what we’d seen,” Ayres said of last summer’s dig.
Olympic National Park coastal ecologist Steve Fradkin also is hopeful for the razor clam population at Kalaloch based on the sheer population numbers.
“Back in the 2001-2002 season we witnessed a very high recruitment of between 7 million to 9 million razor clams,” Fradkin said.
“Those were bumper crop years.
“This past year, the assessments showed 138 million clams on the northern stretch of Kalaloch beach, just an incredible number of clams there.
“I am hopeful that this big burst of recruitment will result in future harvest years and a much healthier adult population.”
Fradkin, however, is worried about the adult population of clams.
“Adult clams aren’t getting bigger at Kalaloch,” Fradkin said.
“The average size has moved down from 4 inches for adults to about 3 1/2 and now the average size is about 3.1 inches.
“I don’t want to throw a wet blanket, but there is something killing large clams.”
Fradkin said there’s no proven factor, but he has a good theory.
“There’s no smoking gun, but I do think this bacterial pathogen that wiped out a bunch of clams in the 1980s, this NIX [Nuclear Inclusion X], is a demonstrated cause and may be the agent of this mortality,” Fradkin said.
Fradkin said the bacteria infects the gills and causes the gills to melt in both juvenile and adult clams, but more impact is felt on adult populations.
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game said there is “no known zoonotic human health concerns regarding NIX infections in razor clams,” meaning no ability to pass the disease from clams to humans.
Fradkin did have anecdotal evidence from the last Kalaloch clam season.
“We had a beautiful fall day, the right tidal conditions for a good dig and 3-inch clams,” Fradkin said.
“We heard from so many people that were upset with the smaller clams they had harvested.
“The goal of the National Park Service is to provide opportunity, provide a good, quality digging experience.
Fradkin did offer more hope for a 2016-2017 digging season.
“This year is the centennial of the National Parks Service, and the public traditionally has enjoyed the coastline to dig razor clams.
“We’d like to provide that experience again if we can.”
Both Ayres and Fradkin believe the unprecedented number of clams were deposited as a result of an ocean process and were not spawned on the beach.
Fradkin compared a water mass containing clam larvae to a thunderstorm.
“Sometimes the water masses form and deposit these clams like a thundercloud would rain droplets.
“And this northern stretch of beach at Kalaloch was the lucky recipient.
“Whenever you get huge recruitment like that, it’s a positive. The $64,000 question will be if those survive to adulthood.”
Ayres said he’ll remember last summer’s test dig was a truly memorable sight.
“That’s a once in lifetime thing, getting to see the power of Mother Nature,” Ayres said.
Kid’s Fishing Day
The annual Kid’s Fishing Day at the Lincoln Park Ponds in Port Angeles is Saturday, April 9.
Youth anglers up to age 14 can vie for 35 brand-new fishing rods in five different age groups.
Fishing will run from 8 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., with youth anglers and their parents advised to arrive early to claim a fishing spot.
Winners will be announced at 10:45 a.m.
The event is sponsored by Olympic Peninsula Fly Fishers, the Port Angeles Parks and Recreation Department, the state Department of Fish and Wildlife and Port Angeles Kiwanis members.
Send photos, stories
Have a photograph, a fishing or hunting report, an anecdote about an outdoors experience or a tip on gear or technique?
Send it to sports@peninsuladailynews.com or P.O. Box 1330, Port Angeles, WA 98362.
________
Outdoors columnist Michael Carman appears here Thursdays and Fridays. He can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 57050 or at mcarman@peninsuladailynews.com.
