Commercial Clam Project Recommended for Funding

The National Marine Fisheries Service, an office within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), has recommended the Louisiana Sea Grant Program (LSG) receive a $296,000 grant to help develop a market for Rangia cuneata (Gulf wedge clam). The project is one of 40 nationwide recommended under the Saltonstall-Kennedy Competitive Grants Program.

Principal investigator on the two year project – titled Louisiana Clams: Foundation of Novel Culinary Bivalves in Commerce – is Rusty Gaudé, marine extension agent for LSG and the LSU AgCenter in Jefferson, Orleans, St. Charles and St. John parishes. “Rooted deep in Louisiana’s pre-history is the wide-spread human consumption of clams which served as the dietary foundation of the Paleo-Indians along the Gulf Coast,” said Gaudé. “Consumption of this clam was premised on the ease of harvest and the high nutritional value of the clam meat.”

Clams are still popular with many Americans – particularly wild East Coast species – in today’s seafood markets, with clam harvests by tonnage being twice that of oysters. However, in Louisiana, clams are essentially an overlooked culinary item.

In 2015, state regulations to allow for the legal commercial harvest of Rangia were amended, opening a path for retail sales. This project will introduce Louisiana clams into seafood markets, initially as a supplemental product through the state’s Alternative Oyster Culture program, by identifying suitable wild populations for harvest, demonstrating harvesting methods to oyster fishers and showing clams’ potential role in Louisiana wholesale and retail culinary circuits.

Gaudé can be reached at [email protected].