Geoduck divers report strong prices
KETCHIKAN - Geoduck clams are commanding strong prices in a season that's gone well in Southeast Alaska despite several interruptions.
The fishery is in its second season under a new system for testing geoducks for paralytic shellfish poisoning.
"Quite a bit of our product is going out live and were extending the season - and getting even more for the product than we did last year," said Julie Decker, executive director of the Southeast Alaska Regional Dive Fisheries Association. "The marketplace is starting to recognize that Alaska has a supply of live geoducks."
Harvest divers have landed about 365,400 pounds of the 461,600-pound quota available in southern Southeast Alaska during the 2004-2005 season that started in November, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.
"Theres only a couple areas left with significant quota," said Justin Breese, a commercial fisheries management biologist with Fish and Game in Ketchikan.
Prices noted on fish tickets submitted to Fish and Game have been between $5 and $6 a pound, said Breese.
The agency is working with the dive fisheries association and the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation to detect paralytic shellfish poisoning, which officials said ensures that the geoducks are harvested only when PSP levels are low enough to allow live shipments. Live geoducks typically command prices more than twice that of processed clams.
To date, divers have been unable to harvest during three separate weeks because none of the fishing areas has passed the required PSP testing, according to Fish and Game.
Logistical problems also have hampered the testing occasionally, said Breese. For example, some of the areas weren't tested because of bad weather.
If clams from a particular area are within the acceptable PSP range for two weeks in a row, Fish and Game can open the area for a two-day fishery.