December 20, 2021 — Maine’s clam industry is growing as climate change warms the Gulf of Maine.
The Bangor Daily News reports northern quahogs are among the state’s fisheries that have seen increased harvest volumes and values over the past decade.
The average price of what are also known as hard clams has gone from 40 cents per pound in the 1990s to around $1.50 per pound in recent years, the newspaper reports.
Annual harvest totals have also increased since the early 2000s, reaching a record of more than two million pounds in 2019, according to the paper. The annual harvest value is around $2.6 million, up from just over $10,000 as recently as 2004.