BRUNSWICK — The town’s clam flats will be closed to commercial harvesting two days a week for the rest of the year, the Marine Resources Committee decided last week.
The move is an effort to preserve the clam population, which is threatened by a booming green crab population in the area.
According to Marine Resource Officer Dan Devereaux, commercial harvesting of clams and quahogs in the town’s intertidal zone on Saturdays and Sundays will be prohibited until at least April 2015, when committee members are expected to revisit the issue.
The town has more than 1,700 acres of intertidal shellfish growing area along its 61 miles of coastline.
Recreational harvesters are not allowed to take more than one peck – eight quarts – of clams during the ban.
Harvesters who attended the public hearing largely expressed support for the plan, Devereaux said.
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