Based upon 1980 prices, a new digger is prepared to enter the fish- 

 ery for an outlay of approximately $70-90 (license $10, blood- 

 worm hoe $22 or sand worm hoe $45, boots $30, buckets $4, and 

 perhaps a pair of gloves $4). The new digger can quickly recover 

 his initial ouday with a little experience and two or three tides of 

 digging effort. An experienced digger may desire a 14-16 ft alumi- 

 num boat and a 10-25 hp motor. 



A good bloodworm digger will start digging high on the mud flat 

 and follow the receding tide out with a trench measuring approxi- 

 mately 1 m in width. When the tide changes, the digger reverses 

 direction and digs ahead of the incoming tide. A bloodworm flat is 

 considered good if the digger can dig one commercial-sized worm 

 for each four or five turns of the hoe. Although a good bloodworm 

 digger may dig as long as 5 h on a low drain tide, 2 to 4 h is the 

 general rule. 



The sandworm digger generally waits until the tide is near the 

 low water mark before he begins digging. He spends the entire tide 

 digging parallel to the shore in the region of the low water mark. A 

 sandworm flat is considered good if the digger can dig one 

 commercial-sized worm for each turn of the hoe. Often the digger 

 may be rewarded with three-four worms per hoe turn. Although a 

 good sandworm digger may dig as long as 3-3 l k h on a low drain 

 tide, 1 'k to 2'k h is the general rule. 



MARINE WORM HOES 



A commonly used form of the bloodworm hoe (Fig. 1 A) is con- 

 structed from two small spading forks welded together on a V- 

 shaped brace. The hoe handle is constructed from a portion of the 

 handle of one of the original spading forks. The handle is pounded 

 down onto a short tine that has been welded to the middle of the 

 brace at a relatively sharp angle to the tines. Various important 

 bloodworm hoe measurements from the areas east and west of 

 Penobscot Bay during 1977 are presented in Table 4. 



A commonly used form of the sandworm hoe (Fig. IB) is con- 

 structed from parts of three large spading forks. One tine from each 

 of two large 4-tined spading forks is removed. The remaining por- 

 tions are then welded together to form a 6-tined hoe. Each tine is 

 then lengthened by welding on four additional tines from the third 

 spading fork plus the two tines that were removed from the first two 

 spading forks. The hoe handle, obtained from a portion of one of 

 the original spading fork handles, is attached to the tines in much 

 the same manner described previously for the bloodworm hoe. Var- 

 ious important sandworm hoe measurements from the areas east 

 and west of Penobscot Bay during 1977 are presented in Table 4. 



Previous descriptions of Maine marine worm hoes have been 

 presented by Ganaros (footnote 4) and Dow and Creaser (1970). 



Figure 1. 



-Marine worm hoes commonly used by commercial diggers: (A) 

 bloodworm hoe, (B) sandworm hoe. 



According to the hoe description supplied by Ganaros (footnote 4), 

 the hoe was constructed from a modified garden fork, the handle of 

 which was cut off 9- 10 in (22.9-25.4 cm) from the tines. Two addi- 

 tional tines were welded on either side of the fork and all six tines 

 were bent at an angle of approximately 45° with the handle. Each 

 tine was flattened and gently curved inward. The lengths of the 

 tines were approximately IVk in (29.2 cm) and the overall width 

 obtained was IOV2 in (26.7 cm). Although Ganaros (footnote 4) did 

 not state which worm species this hoe was designed for, the tine 

 lengths are midway between those reported for bloodworm and 

 sandworm hoes (Table 4), thus suggesting that it might have been 

 used for both. 



The bloodworm and sandworm hoes described by Dow and 

 Creaser (1970) are very similar in dimension to those summarized 

 in Table 4. 



Bloodworm hoes used by diggers in the Maritime Provinces were 

 also constructed from garden forks (Klawe and Dickie 1957). The 

 four tines on these hoes were tapered from 0.5 to 0.75 in (1.3-1.9 

 cm) in width, were 9 to 10.5 in long (22.9-26.7 cm), and were 

 curved slightly inward. No other measurements were recorded. 



PACKING AND SHIPPING MEDHJM 



Seaweed gatherers collect packing weed for specific use by 

 marine worm dealers. Dealers prefer to pack both species of worms 

 in the young fine textured shoots of Ascophyl I urn nodosum f. scor- 

 piodes and Ascophyllum machaii, both of which are found growing 

 quite abundantly at the base of Spartina in salt and brackish water 



Table 4.— A summary of bloodworm (B) and sandworm (S) hoe measurements recorded east and west of Penobscot Bay during 



1977. 









Tine measurements (± 1 SE) 





Hoe 



measurements (± 1 SE) 

















Handle 



Handle- 



Distance 



Species 



No. hoes 







Flat or 







length 



tine angle 



handle 



and area 



measured 



Number 



Length (cm) 



round (%) 



Width (cm) 



Width (cm) 



(cm) 



O 



tine (cm) 



B (east) 



50 



5.74 



22.16 



100 F 



1.75 



25.56 



15.96 



51.82 



14.29 







±0.15 



±0.48 





+ 0.08 



+ 0.31 



+ 0.41 



+ 1.07 



±0.19 



B (west) 



55 



7.11 



21.39 



100 F 



1. 01 



27.75 



20.91 



42.07 



18.01 







+ 0.10 



±0.52 





±0.01 



+ 0.35 



+ 0.16 



+ 0.68 



+ 0.27 



S (east) 



48 



6 



38.84 



87.5 F 



1.15 



27.99 



29.89 



45.46 



24.89 







±0 



±0.57 



12.5 R 



+ 0.04 



±0.33 



+ 0.55 



+ 0.80 



+ 0.41 



S (west) 



50 



5.62 



34.74 



76.0 F 



1.00 



25.21 



23.17 



46.54 



23.35 







±0.07 



±0.73 



1 OR 



±0.05 



±0.35 



+ 0.16 



±0.77 



±0.25 



