PORTLAND, Maine — Maine and the rest of New England have had a second straight year of mild red tide outbreaks, bringing a sigh of relief to the clamming industry following two consecutive years of widespread clam flat closures because of red tide.
Clam diggers were hurt in 2008 and 2009 when red tide outbreaks resulted in extended closures of hundreds of miles of clam flats in Maine.
But only small numbers of clam flats have been shut down this summer because of red tide, said Darcie Couture of the Department of Marine Resources. The flats that were closed were shut down for relatively short periods, and the toxin levels of the red tide blooms didn't reach unusually high levels as seen in past years.
"I always expect the worst and heave a sigh of relief when it doesn't happen. I think we've dodged the bullet," said Jim Markos, general manager of Maine Shellfish Co. in Ellsworth.
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