I 



Clams are grown in a nursery until they're large enough to be planted on the shellfish lease. 



grant for a rake-your-own project 

 and teamed up with Midgett, a clam 

 grower willing to test the business 

 on his property. He was inspired by 

 childhood memories of digging 

 stocked clams from the surf where 

 his family rented a beach cottage 

 near Provincetown, Mass. 



"One of my favorite memories of 

 those trips to the beach is that every 

 year when we got there, usually about 

 the first day, my brother and I would 

 go out and dig up surf clams," Murray 

 says. "And my dad would make a big 

 batch of clam chowder that would last 

 for most of the week." 



The Outer Banks promises a 

 healthy market for this type of 

 activity, he says. Close to a million 

 people come to Hatteras Point every 

 year, and they're fishing, beach- 

 walking, bird-watching and looking 



for other outdoor recreation. 



"My guess is that many of the 

 tourists who come to the Outer Banks 

 from Tennessee, Kentucky and places 

 inland or even in the Piedmont region 

 of North Carolina don't want to make 

 the investment in clamming equipment 

 or don't know how to start," Murray 

 says. "And this would be an inexpen- 

 sive and painless way to experience 

 recreational clamming." 



Midgett knows this firsthand. 



Even as Murray was starting the 

 grant paperwork in Raleigh, Midgett 

 was independently mulling the same 

 idea for his Hatteras farm. Customers 

 in his seafood shop are always 

 interested in how he grows and 

 harvests clams, he says. They crane 

 for a look at the clam nursery behind 

 his counter, and they ask a lot of 

 questions. 



"They can see where I am raising 

 (clam) seed," Midgett says. "They 

 get inquisitive and want to go through 

 and have tours. It was getting to be 

 a tourist attraction. It was becoming 

 a draw." 



After discovering a few tourists 

 on his shellfish lease digging for 

 clams, Midgett began to hatch an idea 

 for tapping into this new market. 



"When I dig clams, I always 

 miss some. So I go back on my free 

 moments and get another bushel 

 basket from every clam bed," Midgett 

 says. "I thought I could let the tourists 

 come in and dig what wasn't har- 

 vested. And that would be labor 

 saved." 



Here's how it works. 



The rake-your-own clam beds are 

 part of Midgett' s aquatic farm about a 

 mile north of Hatteras. He's reorganiz- 



M AY/JUNE 1996 



