Clams exemplify the influence of tradition in 

 fishery product consumption. Per capita con- 

 sumption of clams in New En<?iand, it appears, 

 is close to nine times the national average, and 

 the region accounts for over 50 ^r of clam 

 products (from all species) consumed at home 

 (Figure 6) . New England, however, no longer 

 is a leading clam-producing area and must de- 

 pend on other regions for over 80 ^r of its 

 supplies. 



Outside of New England, clam products are 

 consumed chiefly in the Middle Atlantic and 

 Pacific regions. The two account, respectively, 

 for 18% and 16% of U.S. clam consumption, 

 and the per capita rate of consumption in both 

 areas is close to the U.S. average. In all other 

 regions, per capita consumption of clams is 

 less than half the national average. 



Unlike the situation for oysters, the major 

 clam-producing areas are net exporters of the 

 product (Figure 7). The Middle Atlantic re- 



SUPPLIES 



(Million pounds) 



4u 2 



n™ E IGLAUD 



W. N. C: UTRAL 



E. N. ramEAL 



DISTRIBUTION 



(Million pounds) 



20 



40 



"T~ 



Q INSHIPMENTS 

 [~| LANDINGS 



* Total consumption - at home and away 



D 



Oin-SHIPMENTS 

 CONSUMPTION* 



Figure 7. — Regional supplies and distribution of clams. 

 Source: Appendix 4. 



gion accounts for over 75% of the quantity of 

 clams landed in the United States, but 3 out 

 of every 4 lb. landed in the area are shipped 



to other regions, chiefly for consumption in 

 New England and on the U.S. West Coast. 

 The South Atlantic area ranks behind the Mid- 

 dle Atlantic in clam production and exports 

 over half of what it produces. (Clam produc- 

 tion in the South Atlantic is concentrated heav- 

 ily in the Chesapeake area.) 



The reason why clam consumption is ex- 

 tremely low throughout the central regions of 

 the United States cannot be found in the nature 

 of the product. Over 60'/r of the clam harvest 

 consists of surf clams that are further pro- 

 cessed into frozen or canned products. Thus, 

 there are few preservation or other technical 

 problems that would tend to set geographic 

 market limits. The relatively high rate of 

 consumption on the West Coast bears this out. 

 What is likely reflected here is the limitation 

 with respect to the clam resource. Producers 

 simply have not been confronted with a supply 

 situation that required a broader market base. 

 In any event, if discovery of new resource areas 

 led to substantially heavier catches, there ap- 

 pears to be a high potential for marketing in- 

 creases in supplies. 



Crabs 



There is a heavy concentration of crab con- 

 sumption in the Pacific Coast States. The area 

 accounts for over 40% of crabs consumed at 

 home in the United States, and the per capita 

 rate is better than three times the national 

 average. Consumption in the Pacific States 

 consists chiefly of king and dungeness crabs, 

 which are products of the Northwest Pacific 

 States and Alaska. The indications are that 

 the region consumes over three-fourths of its 

 output of king and dungeness crabs and the 

 remainder goes into interregional trade. 



Outside the Pacific region, the volume of 

 crabs consumed is shared almost entirely by 

 six regions, roughly in proportion to area pop- 

 ulations; that is, per capita consumption in 

 each approximates the national average. In 

 the two remaining regions, which are the East 

 and West North Central, crabs apparently are 

 not consumed in significant quantity. 



The regional distribution of crab consump- 

 tion (at home) is illustrated in Figure 8, where 

 it is shown that the one-two-three order of total 

 consumption is Pacific, South Atlantic, and 



