LUBEC — Kyle Pepperman, executive director of the Downeast Institute, joined the Lubec Shellfish Committee this week to give a talk on clam biology and the process of seeding clam flats.
The committee also discussed an increase in poaching activity and reviewed proposed amendments to the town’s ordinance to address these and other matters.
The committee is considering a trial run of three clam seeding plots in Lubec for next spring and is looking at Globe Cove, the Lawrence Factory flat and Birch Point as potential locations.
The Downeast Institute, or DEI, sells seed clams and square pieces of plastic mesh that measure 14 feet across and are anchored over the beds to protect the mollusks from predators.
The committee learned that the flat around a seeding bed can be harvested while the seeding program is underway.
Pepperman emphasized that nets need constant tending to remove predators, such as green crabs or moon snails that get inside the pen, and he cautioned that winter weather can tear the netting loose. He also said it may take as long as five years to grow clams to a harvestable size in Lubec because colder water slows their development.
Clams spend the first three phases of their life cycle floating high in the water column, away from predators, and drifting with the currents. This means clam seeding will not necessarily generate returns for that specific flat.
In 2022, Sipayik launched what The Quoddy Tides reported to be the largest clam garden in the world, with 49 14‑by‑14‑foot seed beds in Half Moon Cove. The project was a combined effort of the Downeast Institute, the Sunrise County Economic Council, Wabanaki REACH, Maine Sea Grant, the Maine Department of Marine Resources and a team of volunteers, including a dedicated steward who monitors the garden.
Pepperman said DEI’s soft‑shell clam program is grounded in nearly four decades of research and experience, dating back to the nonprofit’s founding in 1987. Clam seeding is only one of many areas of research the institute pursues at its facility on Beals Island.
“We grow oysters so we can afford to grow clams,” Pepperman said. “We’re the only soft-shell clam hatchery in the world that’s commercially viable.”
While the dollar value of Maine’s clam harvest has trended upward, the poundage landed has declined sharply since its peak in 1977. Pepperman said the drop is largely the result of the boom in Maine’s green crab population, fueled by increasingly mild winters.
This led to a brief discussion of potential measures to reduce green crab predation, including the possibility of creating a commercial market. In December, the Canadian government announced a one‑year pilot program in New Brunswick to test commercial harvest as a way to control the green crab population.
Committee member Julie Keene suggested that the state should explore launching a similar effort on this side of the border.
“There used to be billions of urchins here,” she said, “When I was growing up, it was insane.”
Keene said the abundance of green crabs could be curbed by creating a market for them.
“We could make some money getting rid of these crabs,” she said.
Pepperman warned that the strategy might not work, saying studies show that removing adult green crabs can actually trigger an overall increase in their numbers.
“The more big ones you take out, the more little ones there are going to be,” he said.
Pepperman encouraged people to visit DEI’s facilities on Beals Island, which are open to the public by appointment.
Reached by telephone after the meeting, Mike Scrivani, chair of the Lubec Shellfish Committee, said he has since spoken with a local representative of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers about securing free permits for installing structures in the tidal zone.
After Pepperman’s talk, the committee moved on to its regular agenda, which produced two issues to bring before the Lubec Board of Selectmen later this month. The first centered on a proposal to strengthen enforcement.
Russell Wright, the town’s shellfish warden, told the committee that historically high prices — now topping $4 a pound — have fueled an increase in clam poaching in Lubec. Over the past week, he and the state warden made three arrests of clammers working in closed areas after dark. Wright said all three were Lubec residents and none had a license.
The committee discussed what the committee calls the “3-2-1” proposal to strengthen the town ordinance’s penalties for harvesting clams in closed areas. Under the plan, a first offense would result in a one‑year license revocation, a second offense would bar a harvester from obtaining a license for two years and a third offense would lead to a permanent ban on holding a license to rake clams in Lubec.
Wright said poachers often use intermediaries with valid licenses to sell their illegal catch to buyers, who might not realize they are buying stolen clams.
Maine law treats illegal commercial shellfish harvesting as a Class D crime, carrying fines of at least $300 for a first offense and up to $1,500 for a second.
During the discussion, Wright and several audience members noted that suspending a harvester’s license might not deter illegal digging, since the poachers in this case did not have a license to lose.
“They spend the night in jail,” an audience member said, “and the next night they’re right back out.”
According to Maine Department of Marine Resources landings data, Lubec harvested nearly 450,000 pounds of soft‑shell clams in 2024, accounting for more than 7 percent of the state’s total for the year.
“We have some of the richest flats and beaches in the state of Maine, but it’s getting overharvested,” Wright said in a telephone interview. “They need to be protected, and there needs to be some work done by the harvesters for future generations.
“It’s like a garden. If you don’t take care of it, you don’t grow nothing.”
He urged the committee to consider strengthening the ordinance and setting aside additional flats for conservation.
A previously raised proposal to prohibit night clamming was discussed again, but the committee concluded it would have little effect.
The second issue the committee plans to bring to the next Board of Selectmen meeting concerns a provision in the ordinance that requires license applicants to submit a notarized affidavit attesting to their local residency.
This requirement was introduced to address a fraudulent practice in which applicants used outdated tax receipts or driver’s licenses to falsely claim local residency and gain access to Lubec’s clam harvest.
Those documents were not legally binding, so providing false information carried no real consequence. The affidavit requirement is intended to close that loophole.
The committee also discussed a proposal to address overharvesting in the Lubec Channel by shifting to a rotating schedule.
The proposal would divide the flats into two sections, one on each side of Woodward Point. Under the rotation, Mowry Beach and the S-Turn flats would alternate with the flats south of Woodward Point — Long Bar, First Bar and Second Bar. When the flats north of Woodward are open, the southern flats would be closed, and the reverse would apply.
