Razor Clam Collapse Closes 5 Popular Kenai Peninsula Clamming Beaches - ADN
What was once among Southcentral Alaska's most popular spring and summer recreation activities may soon be in danger of being forgotten.
Clamming on several Kenai Peninsula beaches on the eastern shore of Cook Inlet will be closed yet again in 2017 — closures that date to 2014 — due to a collapsing razor clam population, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced on Wednesday. Beaches from the mouth of the Kenai River south to the Homer Spit will be shuttered to the taking of all clams.
The five beaches are Clam Gulch north and south, Ninilchik north and south, and another beach between Clam Gulch and Ninilchik.
Those same beaches used to be mobbed with diggers toting shovels or clam guns who would bring home dozens of clams on successful outings. The peak year was 1994, when Fish and Game estimated the harvest at 1.3 million clams during 48,000 "digger days" — a clam-digger spending at least part of a day on the beach. Since 2015 — zilch.
But state biologists suggest that the clam population may be starting to rebuild itself. While surveys conducted earlier this year found almost no mature (at least 3 1/4 inches long) clams, they did detect lots of juveniles — some 2.5 million in the northern section of the Clam Gulch beach.
EDIT
https://www.adn.com/outdoors-adventure/2016/12/29/clamming-shut-down-again-on-kenai-peninsula-beaches/