Clams looking good

Dan Ayres of the Dept. of Fish and Wild Life, before heading off to Long Beach for another public meeting tonight, answered my questions about how last night’s public forum in Ocean Shores went, and any tentative opening dates and number of digs:

“We had about 25 people at the Shilo last night and they asked a lot of good questions and provided some good feedback.

“We aren’t ready to announce any tentative dates until we have completed all the meetings…however, the 3rd weekend in October is the best bet for an opener.”

He sent a PDF (coastwide razor clam pop hi) showing historic clam population in Copalis (for some reason, they refuse to call us Ocean Shores).

The number of digs is likely to go up this year, as the 2009-10 clam population is some 6.8 million, well over the 5.1 million average since 2003.