Newcombe, 1935; Paine, 1969, 1971; Feder, 

 1970; Birkeland and Chia, 1971 for discussion). 



SUMMARY AND 

 GENERAL COMMENTS 



The results of this paper provide information 

 on growth rates of P. .stamineo in northeastern 

 Prince William Sound, Alaska. Growth rates 

 for this species in Galena Bay are considerably 

 less than those reported for British Columbia 

 (Fraser and Smith, 1928). P. stami)iea in 

 Galena Bay reach a harvestable size (length 

 = 30 mm) in 8 to 9 yr. 



Examination of recruitment and distribution 

 on three beaches studied suggests that the 

 number of recruits entering and/or surviving 

 recruitment on an annual basis in Prince 

 William Sound is extremely variable. On each 

 of the beaches examined, recruitment was at 

 its maximum between the tidal heights of -0.43 

 and -0.64 m while survival was best between 

 the tidal heights of +0.43 and -0.43 m. The 

 majority of P. stamhiea were found within 

 4 cm of the sediment surface. 



Based on the large number of beaches in 

 Prince William Sound having populations of 

 littleneck clams, this species undoubtedly repre- 

 sents a potential, although probably limited 

 fishery resource in Prince William Sound (R. 

 Nickerson, pers. comm.; Feder and Paul, 1973). 

 Since the variable recruitment and slow growth 

 rates observed for Galena Bay appear to apply 

 throughout Prince William Sound (Feder and 

 Paul, unpubl. data), such a fishery would 

 probably require that beaches be harvested on 

 an 8- to 10-yr rotational basis. 



The large port facility proposed for Valdez 

 to receive crude oil from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska 

 will undoubtedly result in some degree of oil 

 contamination as a result of accidental spillages, 

 ballast treatment, and shipboard operations 

 (Arthur, 1968; Dudley, 1968; Nelson-Smith, 

 1970; Blumer, 1971; U.S. Department of the 

 Interior, 1972:64). Therefore, beyond its po- 

 tential as a commercially harvestable species, 

 P. staminea may have additional value as an 

 indicator of environmental change since this 

 clam is the only intertidal invertebrate whose 

 natural history has been examined in detail 



FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 71. NO. 3 



in Prince William Sound, 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 



We would like to thank R. T. Cooney (Univer- 

 sity of Alaska) for valuable advice; Rosemary 

 Hobson (Institute of Marine Science, University 

 of Alaska) for invaluable advice on computer 

 programming techniques; Shirley Wilson (In- 

 stitute of Marine Science, University of Alaska) 

 for drafting all the figures; Richard B. Nickerson 

 (Alaska Department of Fish and Game) for 

 discussions and for use of an Alaska Depart- 

 ment of Fish and Game boat; Carol Anderson, 

 George Perkins, David Roseneau, and Frederick 

 Smith for technical assistance. 



LITERATURE CITED 



Amos, M. H. 



1966. Commercial clams of the North American 

 Pacific Coast. U.S. Fish Wildl. Serv. Circ. 237, 

 18 p. 

 Arthur, D. R. 



1968. The biological problems of littoral pollution 

 by oil and emulsifiers — a summing up. In J. D. 

 Carthy and D. R. Arthur (Editors), Biological effects 

 of oil pollution on littoral communities, p. 159- 

 164. (Proc. Symp. held at Orieltor Field Center, 

 Pembroke, Wales, 17-19 February 1968.) Field 

 Studies Council, Lond. 

 Birkeland, C, and F. S. Chia. 



1971. Recruitment risk, growth, age and predation 

 in two populations of sand dollars, Dendraster 

 excentricus (Escholtz). J. Exp. Mar. Biol. Ecol. 

 6:265-278. 

 Blumer, M. 



1971. Scientific aspects of the oil spill problem. 

 Environ. Aff. 1:54-73. 

 Christensen, A. M. 



1970. Feeding biology of the sea star Astropecten 

 irregularis Pennant. Ophelia 8: 1-134. 

 Dixon, W. J. (editor). 



1964. BMD biomedical computer programs. Health 



Sciences Computing Facility, Dep. Preventive 



Medicine and Public Health School of Medicine, 



Univ. Calif., Los Ang., 585 p. 



Dudley, C. G. 



1968. The problem of oil pollution in a major oil 

 port. In J. D. Carthy and D. R. Arthur (editors), 

 Biological effects of oil pollution on littoral com- 

 munities, p. 21-29. (Proc. Symp. held at Orieltor 

 Field Center, Pembroke, Wales, 17-19 February 

 1968.) Field Studies Council, Lond. 

 Feder, H. M. 



1970. Growth and predation by the ochre sea star. 



676 



