May 12, P. Fischer, Clams, Fed health research conducted, Cemetery meeting
Last week I mentioned Paul Fischer’s heart tune up. He didn’t get a stent, he got a Pacemaker and defibrillator implant. Now he can’t carry a cell phone in his left shirt pocket because they may interfere with his heartware. He suggested that I make a bundle by marketing right-pocket shirts. But I sew so little and know you dear readers can put money in your pocket with Paul’s Right-Wing idea.
Razor clams are a bust at Clam Gulch again. This failure is accentuated by their consistency for the past hundred years. In fact, having personally dug in barbaras, I can attest to clam shells being a common find. According to Nicky Szarzi, a Homer biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish & Game, the clams ran into trouble in 2001, but the problem didn’t show up until that age class matured, in 2004. Before the age of three years, clams are too small for people to notice. Clams eat phytoplankton, but biologists don’t know why the clams are failing to grow. Typically, razor clams are considered good eating size by the age of 5 or 6 years, and clams live to about 13 years old. Since the problem appeared beginning with the 2001 age class, it is not yet known whether the clams will also die prematurely.
Nicky says there are still plenty of little clams and digging won’t impact them. I can vouch for digging having no great impact —there aren’t many diggers. For more than 30 years low tides have attracted hundreds of diggers. Last week we had a couple extreme low tides, tolerable weather, and squat for diggers. The high price of gas and tiny size of clams seems to have withered the shovel wavers.
Mysteriously, the clams at Ninilchik are still big. Whatever the problem is, it starts several miles north of that hamlet. Clams reach sexual maturity at the age of 2 or 3 years, and yes, there are two sexes. Apparently, clams lead a sheltered life and dating doesn’t happen. Both sexes simply release their seed into the sea and the mixing Inlet joins the twain to form a life. The system has merit. There are none of the dating hardships so rampant with humans and moose. Baby clams go through a six-week phase as free swimmers. This is pretty amazing if we consider the tides. Somehow these lambs of the clam family stay on location, or enough of them make it back to the Clam Gulch area to sustain their existence. Eventually, clams grow a tiny shell and drop down out of the water column to the sand. The clams are protected by a state recognized beach designation. Clam Gulch State Critical Habitat Area stretches from Happy Valley to Cape Kasilof.
The Research Triangle Institute (RTI) of North Carolina has been in the local area performing interviews for the Substance Abuses and Mental Health Services Administration, a branch of the U.S. Public Health Service. RTI is conducting the 2008 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Lucky people who are selected for the 45-minute interview get paid $30 for their cooperation. The questions relate to substance abuse, income, and insurance. The government uses the information to determine the success of drug prevention programs and the need for treatment facilities, as well as numerous other applications. Lynda Purvis, one of the interviewers, was born in Fairbanks and has been staying at Clam Gulch Lodge.
The Spruce Grove Memorial Park cemetery association is holding a meeting at 5:30 May 13 at the McLane Center. The public is welcome.