They’ve become a Central Coast symbol, and one of the main calling cards for a Central Coast city.
They almost disappeared decades ago, due to overharvesting, but the Pismo Clam is making a comeback. They are facing a new threat though, from poachers. You can legally harvest them now, but the reality is that virtually all of them that you find aren’t legally big enough to take.
Lt. Jeff Heitzenrater is with the law enforcement division of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. He says since the beginning of the year, they’ve seized more than 12,000 undersized Pismo clams, and issues 116 citations on San Luis Obispo County beaches.
The State Fish and Wildlife officer says they can take more than eight years to mature.
But, going clamming is legal. You have to have a license, and the clams have to meet specific requirements size requirements. You can't take young clams.
Heitzenrater says some of the people they encounter on the beaches clamming don’t know the laws, while others do, and know they are poaching. He says when somone has hundreds of clams, they obviously know they are breaking the law.
State Fish and Wildlife officials say when they do catch accidental or intentional poachers, they try to document where the clams were found, and return them to their habitat.
