Everything about Clam Digging totally explained
Clam digging is a common means of harvesting
clams from below the surface of the tidal
mud flats where they live. It is done both
recreationally (for enjoyment or as a source of food) and
commercially (as a source of income). Commercial digging is
colloquially referred to as
clamming, and is done by a
clammer.
Amateur clam digging is often done using a straight long-handled spading fork or a spading
shovel.
Commercial clamming for the larger surf and
Quahog clams (soup clams) is primarily done offshore, via mechanical dredging. To harvest cultivated clam beds, aquaculturalists often use a much smaller version (hand pulled) of the offshore dredge. Another form of commercial clamming is done from a flat decked boat using a clamrake with a telescopic handle. The head of these rakes have long tines attached to a "basket-like" cage in which the clams are collected.
In the
Minas Basin area of
Nova Scotia digging for
soft-shelled clams is usually done with a
clam hack, a
spading fork with its short handle bent perpendicularly away from the fork's head. A digger typically uses the hack by grasping the spine of the prongs in one hand and the handle of the fork in the other to push the hack down into the mud, clay, or sand and then pull it up and towards him/herself. This digging action opens up the soil to expose the clams. Those clams legally long enough (44 mm in Nova Scotia) are then taken by hand and put into a
peck-size (9 litre) bucket used for measuring the volume of clams collected.
Clam digging in Maine is done using a "clam hoe" (a pitchfork with the handle cut off about 18" from the tines then bent about 70 degrees) and a "roller" (a half? bushel basket built using wood lathes or wire mesh) and hip waders (boot that extend up to the top of the legs).
Another popular method for bay clamming is the use of "
tongs" from a boat. These devices function like the scissor-handled posthole diggers with the exception that you contract or squeeze the tongs moving the teeth thru the bottom and feeling the ping of the clams going in the basket, very unlike the expanding motion of a post hole digger, used for digging fence post holes. Tongs appear very much like two clamrakes with teeth hinged like scissors.
In the USA, "clam diggers" is one of several possible names for shorter pants or
three quarter pants.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Clam Digging'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://clam_digging.totallyexplained.com">Clam digging Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
