Mud flats are slow to reopen

Eddie Hunt should be ecstatic.

The Merrimack River tidal flats, once one of the nation's greatest reservoirs for sweet, soft-shelled clams, will be reopening soon after 30 years of closure.

But Hunt, a longtime clammer and owner of Hunt's Seafood in Salisbury, suspects the heyday for these bivalves may be past.

He and other clam fans believe that softshells pulled from a river that has been polluted for 100 years won't be able to measure up to those coming from cleaner waters in Maine and the North Shore's Ispwich and Parker rivers.

''I certainly would wholesale them [to markets] in other states," Hunt said of the Merrimack clams. ''But in New England and in this area, people are much more aware of the quality. You don't want these clams going to the local restaurants."

In early 2003, the state's Office of Environmental Affairs announced it was interested in reopening the flats. Over a year's worth of water quality sampling determined last November that the Merrimack River was clean enough for clamming in limited areas on a limited basis.

The next 10 months were spent setting those limits. Now the state's Division of Marine Fisheries is set to reopen hundreds of acres of mud flats that run north from Pine Island Creek in Newbury along the Plum Island River and across the Merrimack River to Salisbury.

But last-minute details have left officials uncertain of the opening date.

''We want the clams . . . it's an important area. But there are too many i's to dot and t's to cross. It's just the nature of contaminated fisheries," said Jeff Kennedy, a senior biologist at the Division of Marine Fisheries.

What has been determined is that only commercial clammers will be allowed to dig Merrimack River softshells and that all clams harvested there must be taken to a Newburyport plant, where they will soak in fresh ocean water to clean the bacteria out. Clams dug in clean waters, such as the nearby Parker and Ipswich rivers, do not need to go to the plant because they have safer levels of bacteria.

It was the bacteria that caused all the trouble in the first place.

In the early 1900s, softshell clams put the North Shore on the nation's seafood map with the Merrimack flats leading the way. But when fried clam fans started getting sick, the Merrimack flats were among several suspect areas that were shut down.

Efforts to curb water pollution helped some of the closed flats to reopen, including those near Logan Airport in Boston Harbor, which now sends millions of clams to the Newburyport plant for cleaning each year.

But the numerous sewage treatment plants that discharge into the Merrimack have hobbled efforts to reopen the clam beds. Under pressure from the federal government and the Clean Water Act, the plants cleaned up their operations enough to allow the flats to reopen briefly in the early 1970s. But problems remained.

Antiquated plumbing at five of the Merrimack River plants still discharge millions of gallons of raw sewage into the water each year. Increasing road runoff from the Merrimack Valley housing boom is also complicating clamming in the river.

Continued conservation efforts and careful monitoring has the Merrimack now clean enough for clamming much like Boston Harbor, which has been open for years. However, all such areas are subject to sudden shutdowns when bacteria levels jump, especially in the busy summer season, when heat and heavy rains send levels soaring.

All this has made reopening the Merrimack River flats a complex process, which was complicated further by the involvement of three communities -- Newbury, Newburyport, and Salisbury -- which each have closed clam beds in the Merrimack flats. Newburyport worked out some problems with its sewage treatment plant that prevented the city from opening its section of the flats, but it has much more paperwork to do, Kennedy said. Newbury already has extensive clean areas not on the river open for clamming. Salisbury has shown the greatest interest and may be the first to open, Kennedy said.

Earlier in the season, some Salisbury officials involved in the process were talking about an early July opening. But the red tide that shut down shellfishing throughout much of New England earlier this summer delayed those plans, Kennedy said. He said it is not likely to happen before the end of August.

''We have to work out details of the rainfall closures and digging schedules here at the plant so we can handle loads coming in and regulate them," said Kennedy, who works three days a week at the plant. ''The red tide has really set us back, but everything is in place for Salisbury" to reopen.

Sounds like a lot of work for clams that must be cleaned for four days before they can legally be eaten. But the Merrimack River flats, which once produced 100,000 bushels of softshell clams a year, are rich with potential.

''The Merrimack River was very famous at one point in time," Hunt said. ''In the 1900s it was a booming, booming business."

It could be again, if the clams are any good. The clams down there now are likely to be too big and possibly not too tasty, but as the area gets farmed and new clams replace the old, yields and profits are expected to rise.

Kennedy said that the public should not be squeamish about eating clams from polluted waters.

''Our requirements for [cleaning] clams are more stringent than in open or clean area clams," Kennedy said. ''Ours are some of the most tested clams in the country."

There is some doubt, however, that the Merrimack flats will ever approach their former glory, due to the possibility of bacteria spikes in the summer and the purging process at the Newburyport plant, which can take some of the sweetness with it, Hunt said.

''It does take some of the quality out of the clams," he said. This will also decrease the asking price on each bushel, he said. Hunt estimated that Boston Harbor clams, for instance, now sell for 30 percent less than clean-water clams.

Still, longtime Salisbury digger Bob Adams said he will be seeking a license when they become available. He has a refrigerated truck and is licensed as a master digger in three towns.

He plans on finding out if there is once again money to be made under the Merrimack mud.

''People in the shellfish business are going to have to try them out," Adams said. ''Some clams could be better than others. There are not that many clams around, so I think people will buy them. But we won't really know until we get them out of ground and try them."