All eastside Cook Inlet beaches will remain closed to personal use and sport clamming in 2021, as any razor clam harvest will likely delay recovery of the population, according to an emergency order from the Department of Fish and Game.
This closure prohibits the taking of any clam species from the mouth of the Kenai River to the southernmost tip of the Homer Spit. The closure became effective on Friday and will be in effect for the remainder of the year.
Area Management Biologist Mike Booz spoke with KSRM News on Monday: “So this is another year where we’ve closed east Cook Inlet sport and personal use razor clam fishing. It’s been closed annually, by emergency order, since 2015. Razor clams in the east Cook Inlet experienced a decline starting in 2011 through 2015. Razor clams were at an all-time low on east Cook Inlet beaches, and with the closure, with the clams themselves, they’ve started to rebuild, but it’s not perfect.”
He added: “We are seeing increases of adult clams, but they’re not necessarily surviving to their historical size and age. So, we’re closing the beaches – we’re starting with the beaches being closed so that we can go out and do our annual spring abundance surveys and see what the abundances of adults look like.”
This closure does not affect recreational razor clam regulations on westside Cook Inlet beaches, according to Booz: “The west side is still open and the population over there is seemingly doing much better than the east Cook Inlet. It’s actually a great, great sport fishing opportunity to go over there and go clamming.”
Anyone with questions can contact the ADF&G Homer Office at (907) 235-8191.
