Participation and harvest were both down during the second nine-day razor clam opener from Oct. 3-11, but thousands of diggers still took more than 900,000 clams.
Long Beach, open all nine days, was the champion beach once again, with 19,512 diggers taking 351,172 clams during the tide series. That averages out to 18 clams per digger, two below the 20-clam limit, according to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife surveys.
Effort was down by about 2,500 diggers from the Sept. 17-25 tide series, when 22,044 diggers took 428,861 clams, averaging just under a limit apiece.
Twin Harbors, also open all nine days, actually had more clam diggers during the Oct. 3-11 tide series, 14,915, than it did during the opening nine days, 14,226, and more clams were dug, 265,289, than the opening tide series’ 263,377. Success was down a bit, though, with 17.8 clams averaged per digger, compared with 18.5 during the first series.