Investigating Razor Clam Population Depletion

Cordova was once known as the "Razor Clam Capital of the World" and supported a commercial harvest of up to 3 million pounds. Harvest began to decline in the 1950s, likely due to overharvesting, but was decimated in 1964 when the Good Friday Earthquake lifted the sea floor off the coast of Cordova up 6-10 feet. This uplift exposed many of the prime clam beds and the razor clam industry went extinct. A few residents still harvest razor clams in small numbers, but the clams, and the numbers, are small. In 2008, the Native Village of Eyak commissioned studies to determine if razor clam populations could be brought back at levels that were sufficient for subsistence harvest.

The study examined razor clam habitat in the Gulf of Alaska, Prince William Sound, Cook Inlet, and along the Alaska Peninsula and determined conditions that led to successful clam beds. Interviews were conducted with current and former razor clam harvesters to determine historical and present clam bed locations. The study sampled a number of sites throughout Orca Bay to determine their similarities to known productive clam beds elsewhere in Alaska. Sites were selected based on past sampling programs, discussions with local razor clam fishers and a desire to examine a broad range of habitats and wave and current exposures. Where clams were present, age, size, and taxa of the clams was recorded. The study concluded that potential clam beds in Orca Inlet are still unstable as a result of the 1964 earthquake, and those sites will need to be "planed down" by wave action and tidal currents before they will be able to support large numbers of razor clams in the long term. Additionally, there is no solid evidence of razor clam harvest by the Eyak people prior to the arrival of Russian fur hunters in the area. It's possible that a diminished sea otter population due to over hunting allowed razor clams to thrive in Prince William sound, and that razor clam populations will remain low now that sea otter population are healthy again.

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