YAM MAGAZINE JUL/AUG 2016
57
2016-06-07 1:16 PM YAM-3rd-9.58x2.39-VW-2015-layout-copy.indd 1
Volkswagen
Volkswagen Victoria A Division of the GAIN Dealer Group 3329 Douglas Street | 250-475-2415 | vwvictoria.com
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2016 Jetta
HOW, WHERE AND WHEN TO DIG I asked Rick Harbo, a former Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) biologist, marine science writer and clam digger of note, to help school me in the finer points of shellfish foraging, and we met on a beach that’s designated as a “recreational shellfish reserve” near Nanaimo. The author of several great books, Harbo knows a lot about clams, an awful lot. Like any good sport fisher, he has some good pointers for a landlubber like me. First, in these parts at least, you need a licence to harvest clams, mussels and other mollusks on the shore, the same Tidal Waters Sport Fishing Licence needed for any fish or shellfish, which costs about $23 annually for a B.C. resident. And while you’ll find fishing guides to take you out for salmon or halibut, when you’re digging clams, it’s a mostly DIY proposition. Check tide tables online and plan your clam dig around the lowest tides — you’ll have an hour or two on each side of the low tide to dig. A shovel or a rake are the implements of choice. And you’ll need a food-safe bucket to collect the clams you find. Rubber boots or hip waders are de rigueur for clam digs — it can be a dirty, muddy business. I quickly had my visions of sifting through the soft sands of beautiful wide beaches (think Parksville or Qualicum Beach) dashed. Clams don’t like soft sand, says Harbo. It’s the rockier, muddier corners of those coastal coves where you’ll find clams, the shallow mud flats. And, due to closures for natural toxins (paralytic shellfish poisoning or red tide) and other contaminants, you’ll need to do your research carefully before you decide where to dig. “It’s getting harder and harder to find areas for clamming that are not contaminated,” says Harbo, noting that clams, oysters, mussels and other bivalves are “filter feeders” that concentrate contaminants in their bodies,
Highland model shown for illustration purposes only. Vehicles may not be exactly as shown. *Starting from price of $17,600 is based on the 2016 Jetta Trendline 1.4 TSI, 5-speed manual transmission with a MSRP ($15,995) and freight/PDI ($1605). DOC ($395), environmental levies ($100), tire levy ($25), license, insurance PPSA fee (up to $45.48, if applicable), registration ($495), options, any dealer or other charges, and applicable taxes are extra. Visit Volkswagen Victoria to view current offers. “Volkswagen”, the Volkswagen logo, “Trendline” and “Jetta”, are registered trademarks of Volkswagen AG. ©2016 Volkswagen Canada. DL 49914428 #31186
GARDENS OF CLAMS You can’t walk far along a beach, or kayak along the shoreline, before you run into the evidence that coastal people have been harvesting shellfish on Vancouver Island for thousands of years. I first marveled at the deep layers of compressed white shells, or shell middens, while paddling along the shores of Valdes Island, but I’ve also seen the tell-tale bleached layers in the shoreline along The Gorge, right in the centre of the city. It’s a reminder that First Nations relied on clams as a food source, and that these beautiful and tasty bivalves are still alive and well, if hidden, along the water’s edge. There’s even some evidence that early coastal people encouraged these crops of wild edibles to flourish — clearing beaches of rocks to create “clam gardens” in protected coves.
According to the Sport Fishing Institute of British Columbia, both big butter clams and native littleneck clams are common in protected beaches, bays and estuaries along the B.C. coast. Manila clams are an imported species, found along Georgia Strait, near Bella Bella, and on the west coast of Vancouver Island. The aptly named razor clam, with its long narrow shell reminiscent of a vintage straight razor, is only found on surf-swept beaches, like Long Beach outside Tofino or on the rugged coast of Haida Gwaii. And though most clams sit just below the surface of the sand at low tide — a mere four to 10 inches — it takes some sleuthing to find them.
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he First Nations have an expression on the coast — ‘when the tide is out, the table is set,’” says Brian Kingzett, plunging his shovel into the muck and uncovering a handful of Manilas, littlenecks and fat butter clams. “There’s a whole level of protein here under the sand, chowder for four in a square foot.” But you have to know where — and how — to dig. As a recent transplant to the Island, with my deep Prairie roots, I’m keen to learn more about foraging for shellfish on the beach. And here at the end of Baynes Sound, the channel that separates Vancouver Island from nearby Denman Island, is a good place to start. Known as the shellfish capital of B.C., the beaches of Baynes Sound are where the oyster industry has flourished for decades, in tiny towns like Mud Bay, Deep Bay and the now-famous Fanny Bay. And it’s here that coastal people came to live and harvest clams, the deep layers of discarded clamshells, called shell middens, just beneath the surface of the shore evidence of more than 4,000 years of human habitation. Now it’s also the site of the newly opened Deep Bay Marine Field Station, where scientists like Kingzett study shellfish, especially the native geoduck clam, Panopea generosa, the largest clam in the world. “Last year we had an experimental hatchery for geoduck,” he says, holding in his outstretched palm several miniature geoduck “babies” destined for geoduck aquaculture experiments. “Half of all the shellfish in B.C. come from this area — it’s the same reason the Coast Salish were here.” And it’s a good place to begin your own shellfish studies, whether handling local species in the touch tank or heading down to the beach at low tide.
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