SPECIAL REPORT: Clams
Aquaculture is the wave of the future for NJ’s iconic bivalve.
New Jersey Clamming Memories
“I remember going down to the dock with my dad when I was eight or nine years old, and we’d see guys coming in, tongers, with 12- to 14-foot tongs and a boat full of clams. I’d tell him I’d like to do that, like any kid would. He looked at me—and he was right—and said, ‘Well, you couldn’t even pick the tongs up.’ Then I realized that people went overboard and caught them with their hands and feet, too. And then I really wanted to do it.”
—Pete McCarthy, Peter McCarthy Wholesale Clams, Manahawkin
“Back in the day, you got up, you went to work, you made your daily bread and you went home and worked in the garden. And you made good money. Now, it’s way more profitable than it was when we first started with the aquaculture. If you’re going to clam, you better get into aquaculture.”
—Bobby Wilson, clammer
“I started clamming in 1972. First generation. My dad was an auto mechanic, and he would always help guys with their boats. There are no new people. No young people getting in it. When you look at what a kid can be, a police officer or this and that. Money-wise, there’s no comparison.”
—Captain Joe Rizzo, clammer
“Ever since we had the last major ice, maybe four years ago? I’d say it did a really good job of cleaning up the bay. I don’t know what caused it, but our numbers have been creeping upward every year. We probably bottomed out wild clam sales in 2006 / 2007, and it seems like it’s been going up every year since then.”
—Al Glenn, Randall’s Seafood, Pleasantville
“My dad was a local insurance agent, and I worked with him for quite a while, but I always knew that I wasn’t going to stick with that. I didn’t enjoy it. It didn’t do anything for me except give me a real meager income. Once you get in the water, if you’re that kind of a person, you never get away from it.”
—Rit Crema, Smithville
More FOOD FOR THOUGHT
More from the FALL 2018 ISSUE
Related Stories & Recipes