'Teach a man to fish, he eats for a lifetime'

Area residents learn to quahog at a DEM seminar at Colt State Park

By Patrick Luce pluce@eastbaynewspapers.com
Posted 7/26/17

If an old adage is true, a couple dozen new amateur quahoggers will be eating well for the rest of their lives.

About 35 residents from around Rhode Island and Massachusetts gathered by the shore …

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'Teach a man to fish, he eats for a lifetime'

Area residents learn to quahog at a DEM seminar at Colt State Park

Posted

If an old adage is true, a couple dozen new amateur quahoggers will be eating well for the rest of their lives.

About 35 residents from around Rhode Island and Massachusetts gathered by the shore in Colt State Park Tuesday afternoon to learn the art of clamming from commercial quahogger Jody King, who has made his living on the water for 25 years.

“Feed a man a fish, he eats for a day; teach a man to fish, he eats for a lifetime. That’s what I aim to do today,” Mr. King said before conducting his seminar. “I bet if you ask people whether they’ve jumped in the water and gotten clams, they’ll tell you no. I’m going to teach them where to get them and how to get them; stuff your father would teach.”

The seminar was part of the state Department of Environmental Management’s series of clamming workshops scheduled around the state to teach residents about the long history of clamming — known as quahogging in Rhode Island — and encourage them to take advantage one of the state’s greatest natural resources. Rhode Island residents are free to pull as many as 150 clams a day from the seabed without a permit. The trick, of course, is finding them.

Without revealing too many of his trade secrets, Mr. King taught the group how to find the quahogs and how to extract them from the silt. When searching on shore, it’s best to wade into the water along a rocky shoreline until reaching a point where the rocks begin to give way to sand — the “transition zone,” he explained. There, you drop a “jerk rake” with four-to-six-inch teeth into the silt and gently jerk it back and forth to loosen the ground. Then, walk backwards while dragging the rake through the silt. When you feel something in the catch basin, walk back toward the rake and lift straight up to reveal the catch.

“I’m showing you where and how to to get quahogs today,” Mr. King told the group. “We’re all going to catch some clams today; you’re going to steal my clams. So now if you find a place where you catch a lot of clams, I want you to give me a call so I can come steal some of your clams.”

After the lesson on the shore, the group of children and adults braved the windy, chilly conditions Tuesday to wade into the water and try out their new skills. The results were mixed.

“I found two halves of clams and a bunch of rocks that look like clams. And some seaweed,” said Darcy Baker, a 9-year-old from Rehoboth, Mass., who wants to grow up to be a marine biologist. “I want to learn how to catch whole clams this time. But I’m a vegetarian; I’m just doing it for fun.”

Nine-year-old Charlie Redshaw, vacationing from London, England, joined friend Jamie Breitenbach, 8, from Newport, in the chilly water to try their luck.

“It’s fun. When you get in, it’s a little cold, but you get used to it,” Jamie said, adding that he has experience fishing for mahi, sailfish and king fish at his parents’ winter home in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The two had tough luck at first, but ended up nabbing two quahogs.

Blaise Rein of Barrington had better luck, scoring a couple dozen quahogs. Once he found a fruitful part of the transition zone, he was pulling six to seven clams per rake.

“I was just following the technique, and going into the sandy areas. Plus, the passion; it was the passion,” said Mr. Rein, who was enjoying a mother-son day with his mom before heading back to school at Arizona State University. “I’ve got to make the most of the seaside life while I can.”

Mr. King has made the most of the sea for most of his life, beginning when he was a young boy growing up near Rocky Point in Warwick. He and his brothers would wade into the water and fill their baskets with clams to bring to his father, a chef at the former Martinique restaurant in Providence. Mr. King showed off the skills his father taught him, taking Tuesday’s catch and cooking up a seaside feast for the group using his father’s personal recipe.

Mr. King is one of about 100 full-time quahoggers in the state, who maintain their lifestyle partly by protecting their flock. Clams take about seven yeas to grow big enough to legally harvest. Any that fit through a gauge he carries with him go right back in the water, where he knows he can get them later.

“I throw my babies back in the bay and four years later, I know they’re there. That’s job security by throwing my babies back,” Mr. King said, noting quahogs only move about six feet their entire lives. “After 25 years, I’m still making a paycheck.”

While those attending the seminar may not turn it into a living, they can still take advantage of the resources and find themselves a meal, which is Mr. King’s aim. He will be teaching more seminars through the summer, in North Kingstown Aug. 1, and at Rocky Point Aug. 22 and Sept. 9. For more information and to register for the limited-participation seminars, contact Kimberly Sullivan at kimberly.sullivan@dem.ri.gov.

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A lifelong Portsmouth resident, Jim graduated from Portsmouth High School in 1982 and earned a journalism degree from the University of Rhode Island in 1986. He's worked two different stints at East Bay Newspapers, for a total of 18 years with the company so far. When not running all over town bringing you the news from Portsmouth, Jim listens to lots and lots and lots of music, watches obscure silent films from the '20s and usually has three books going at once. He also loves to cook crazy New Orleans dishes for his wife of 25 years, Michelle, and their two sons, Jake and Max.