Background & Purpose
Netarts Bay is located on the Oregon Coast seven miles southwest of Tillamook. It is a favorite recreational area for clams and crabs. On a low tide, hundreds of people will be on the bay and in the mudflats harvesting the bay's bounty. This is all very good as long as sustainable levels of shellfish remain in the bay.
Over the last ten years the number of recreational users has increased exponentially. Intense clamming pressure in the public dig areas along the road connecting the city of Netarts with Cape Lookout is raising concern regarding the sustainability of clam populations in the area. According to the Oregon State Police Game Enforcement Division, it is common for many “recreational clammers” to harvest far more clams than allowed by a shellfish license during any low tide event in Netarts Bay.
Project purposes: to determine how clam numbers compare with historical numbers, compare mudflats adjacent to the highway with mudflats accessible only by boat, and perform trend analysis of data to determine if current harvest levels are sustainable.
Over the last ten years the number of recreational users has increased exponentially. Intense clamming pressure in the public dig areas along the road connecting the city of Netarts with Cape Lookout is raising concern regarding the sustainability of clam populations in the area. According to the Oregon State Police Game Enforcement Division, it is common for many “recreational clammers” to harvest far more clams than allowed by a shellfish license during any low tide event in Netarts Bay.
Project purposes: to determine how clam numbers compare with historical numbers, compare mudflats adjacent to the highway with mudflats accessible only by boat, and perform trend analysis of data to determine if current harvest levels are sustainable.
Community Effort
A major goal of this project is to educate the public about the role clams play in water quality and the impact overharvesting has on shellfish sustainability and bay health.
Many community partners have united to determine the status and resiliency of shellfish populations in Netarts Bay. These partners include Watershed Estuary Beach and Sea (WEBS), Tillamook School District # 9 (TSD9), Tillamook Estuaries Partnership (TEP), Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Marine Resources Program (ODFW/MRP), Tillamook Bay Watershed Council (TBWC) and Oregon State Parks / Cape Lookout.
Research History
2009-2010
Create research protocols and identify historical areas where data was collected Try out protocols to determine the feasibility of doing them with high school students 2010-2011 Local schools carry out research Signs created to place at parking and mudflat entry points Role of clams in estaurine health Results of research being conducted Clam population trends and sustainability incorporating historical surveys |