SEATTLE -- The fall and winter coastal razor clam seasons are coming up and diggers should find another decent harvest even though the number of yummy bivalves won't be as abundant.
"What we're seeing is a decrease in populations on most beaches," said Dan Ayres, head state Fish and Wildlife coastal shellfish biologist. "The overall picture says it will not be a gangbuster season, but not bad either."
Copalis Beach saw the most significant drop, and it didn't come as a surprise since in previous years there wasn't a good amount of small recruitment-size clams.
"The conundrum is that Copalis is down, and it's just a stone's throw away from Mocrocks where clams are up a bit," Ayres said. "They usually tend to follow in each other's footsteps, but this time they didn't.
"On all the other beaches we're seeing a strong recruitment, and things will be fine in the future."
Both Twin Harbors and Long Beach are down on overall populations, but the recruitment-size population of clams looks good.
