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RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Because clams live in water close to the shore they are susceptible to many human and natural hazards such as harvesting pressure, poor water quality, and natural predators. To ensure that the clam resource remains sustainable, management strategies are necessary. Both New York state and counties have some jurisdiction over the management of the hard clam resource, but most of the towns on Long Island also have jurisdiction granted from colonial times over the living hard clam resources on grounds within their boundaries. Most towns have hard clam management programs and actively work with local baymen to manage and sustain the resource. Many of the towns where hard clams are currently harvested have a baymen's association that works with town officials and programs to actively manage the local clam resource. Towns often work with baymen to develop regulations to control harvesting, to seed or stock certain areas, to improve water quality or conduct water testing programs to maximize the amount of local waters available for harvesting, or other activities. There are many examples of effective programs in which town's have used baymen's license fees and town resources to build hatcheries, to buy clam seed, to restock local waters, or to assist with water quality testing to maximize the areas available to local baymen for harvesting.
SHELLFISH REGULATORY PROGRAM
Water quality problems associated with the urban and suburban growth in almost all coastal areas of the United States, including Long Island, is one of the most significant factors that have and will continue to have an impact on baymen and their ability to harvest hard clams. Because hard clams are harvested in shallow coastal waters susceptible to microbiological contamination and they are also traditionally eaten raw on the half shell, there is a greater potential for food safety problems as compared to other foods that are generally cooked before they are eaten.
Since the 1920s, a comprehensive regulatory system designed to ensure that clams and other bivalve shellfish are safe to eat has been in place. This program is called the
National Shellfish Sanitation Program (NSSP). The NSSP is overseen by the federal Food and Drug Administration which works collaboratively with shellfish producing states and the shellfish industry through the Interstate Shellfish Sanitation Conference (ISSC). This system has developed and utilizes mandated guidelines and procedures
for evaluating shellfish harvesting areas, for shellfish handling and tagging procedures, and requires that harvesters, processors, and shippers be licensed, and specifies necessary enforcement and monitoring procedures to ensure product safety. The Department of Environmental Conservation is the designated state shellfish control agency that manages and implements this regulatory program in New York. The DEC oversees the monitoring, evaluation, and classification of shellfish harvesting waters, licenses shellfish diggers, processors, shippers and dealers, and is responsible for the enforcement of all state regulations and guidelines mandated by the NSSP. In addition to these requirements, by 1998 all shellfish shippers in New York (and the rest of the country) were required to develop a state of the art food safety control system called HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point) for their operation. This system requires that each business identify all significant potential food safety hazards that could be associated with their operation and develop and implement a plan that includes monitoring, record keeping, and corrective actions to ensure that these hazards have been prevented, eliminated, or reduced to an acceptable level.
SHIPPERS, WHOLESALERS AND CLAM MARKETS
The majority of New York's hard clam production is sold as live shellstock. Local dealers traditionally buy the clams harvested each day by local baymen. The clams are transported to the dealer's facility where they are sorted and packed for shipment to other wholesalers or are sold directly to retail markets, restaurants, or other food service establishments. Some baymen sell their clams directly to retail markets or restaurants. Industry sources estimate that approximately 80% of the product harvested by New York baymen is purchased by dealers, and between 20% to 50% of the baymen working in various areas of Long Island sell some of the clams they harvest directly to retailers or restaurants.
Both dealers and baymen who sell hard clams or other bivalve shellfish to other shippers, retailers or food service businesses are required to purchase a shellfish shippers permit each year. The type of permit required depends on the type of products handled and where these products are shipped: in interstate commerce, within the state, or in the county where the shellfish are harvested. The number of shellfish shippers permits issued by the DEC in 1998 and 1995 are listed below.
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Permit
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#
Issued in 1998
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#
Issued in 1995
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Class
A (Processor & Shipper)
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23
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30
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Class
B (Shippers Permit)
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115
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118
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Class
C (Shippers Permit)
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117
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129
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Class
D (Shippers Permit)
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59
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63
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Class
E (Ship Shellstock only)
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14
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19
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Class
F (Ship Shellstock Intra State only)
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378
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532
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For a complete explanation of each of these permit categories contact the NYS DEC Shellfisheries Bureau in East Setauket for a copy of the NYS Environmental Conservation Law booklet for Marine Fisheries. A complete list of all shippers in each state that is certified to ship shellfish in interstate commerce is also updated and
available each month from the FDA or can be viewed via the Internet at the FDA Web site at
http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/-ear/shellfis.html. There were 157 New York firms on the FDA's Interstate Certified Shellfish Shippers List on August 1, 1999.
New York is one of the largest suppliers and has one of the largest consumer markets for hard clams in the country. Shellfish wholesalers and shippers supply the large number of retail markets and restaurants in New York as well as many other parts of the U.S. New York City's Fulton Fish Market has traditionally handled more hard clams than any other market in the country, and traditionally 50% or more of New York harvested clams have been sold in Fulton Market. However, in recent years the amount of NY harvested clams sold in Fulton has declined as dealers and baymen have increased their direct marketing activities. In 1993, approximately 16 percent of NY's hard clam harvest was sold at Fulton Market. Clams from all of the shellfish producing states along the Atlantic coast are also shipped to Fulton Market and other wholesale dealers in the state. In recent years, well over half of the clams sold in Fulton Market were from Connecticut and Rhode Island.
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