The East Hampton Town Trustees voted last week to authorize a special season for the taking of soft clams or razor clams by the method known as powering, or churning.
By a resolution authorized on June 1, the trustees approved the special season and designated areas for the harvesting of soft or razor clams on weekdays starting on June 29 and ending on Dec. 31 in all trustee waters certified for shellfishing. During that span, permit holders may harvest such clams by directing an outboard motor’s propeller toward the bottomland to loosen the soil, exposing them. The activity will be permitted during daylight hours, and permit holders will be limited to two bushels per day.
Powering for clams will not be permitted within 100 feet of a road end or other vehicle access trail or kayak rack area, nor in areas containing eelgrass or widgeon grass, oyster gardens, or any area seeded by the town’s shellfish hatchery with oysters within the past three years, with hard clams within the past five years, and with bay scallops within the past year.
Those possessing a town commercial shellfish license are eligible to apply for a special permit at the trustee office, in the Lamb Building on Bluff Road in Amagansett, on weekdays between 9:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. from Monday through June 26. Applicants can also request a digital application from the trustee office. A New York State driver’s license or other state identification must be presented, and applicants must execute a sworn statement that they have not been convicted of a violation of the town code pertaining to the harvesting of shellfish within a year prior to the application.
Boats containing soft clams and/or razor clams in trustee waters on days when powering is permitted will be subject to inspection by the trustees or the harbormaster, and permit holders must maintain a record of the quantity of clams harvested by location and date and provide it to the trustees by Dec. 31.
