ing and roping off parts of his Pamlico 

 Sound lease for tourists to dig their 

 own catch. Customers pay an admis- 

 sion fee that covers the right to harvest 

 clams (up to 100 clams per person per 

 day), instructions and the equipment, 

 such as a rake and mesh bag. 



What they're digging is actually a 

 mixture of clams. Midgett supplies the 

 homegrown littleneck hard clams from 

 his nursery and he stocks the lease 

 with larger clams — cherrystone, 

 topcherry and chowder — that he 

 buys from local dealers. All of 

 these clams are the same genus, 

 Mercenaria, but they're distinguished 

 by size. About 1/8 inch separates a 

 littleneck from a cherrystone, a 

 cherrystone from topcherry, or a 

 topcherry from a chowder. The 

 smallest, the littleneck, is about 7/8 to 

 1 inch thick; it's the top-quality clam 



because of its tenderness and mild- 

 ness. But the larger clams will also be 

 popular among recreational clammers, 

 especially children, Murray says. 



Prices for customer-raked clams 

 are set between wholesale and retail. 

 Wholesale is about 20 cents per clam 

 — the price Midgett would get selling 

 his clams to large seafood dealers. 

 Retail is about 27 cents per clam — 

 the price customers would pay for the 

 same clams in a seafood shop. This 

 way, grower and customer come out 

 ahead, Midgett says. Visitors to the 

 Outer Banks can experience clamming 

 and get a fairly priced, fresh seafood 

 dinner. Likewise, Midgett gets a good 

 price on the clams he sells and his 

 labor costs are lowered. If someone 

 just wants to buy clams — or sun- 

 screen, insect repellent, refreshments 

 and T-shirts — the retail shop will 



have them. T-shirts are free to 

 customers who rake up one of the gold- 

 painted clams planted on the lease. 



In every aspect of this business, 

 from raking fees to T-shirt sales, 

 accurate pricing will be necessary to 

 pass the idea on to other growers, says 

 Rich Novak, a marine extension agent 

 for Sea Grant. Some start-up costs of 

 this project were covered by the NCRI 

 grant, including the salary of Harrison 

 Bresee, an N.C. State University 

 graduate student who is helping out 

 and writing his master's thesis on the 

 venture. But other growers who try 

 this won't have the advantage of 

 backing from a national funding 

 agency. So it's important to correctly 

 price this rake-your-own service to 

 make it profitable for growers and 

 attractive to tourists. 



Continued 



COASTWATCH 5 



