Surf clams, transformed into mini-stuffies by Brian Reeves of PJs Family Restaurant, were the stars of Meet the Fleet. David Hills/Fishy Pictures file photo
By Doreen Leggett
The Rose family has a long history on the Outer Cape, and a fishing heritage that extends back centuries.
“Our family, since the Mayflower, has been eating clams,” said Keith Rose, who captains the sea clammer the Kimberly Ann.
Rose looked out at the crowd of close to a hundred people gathered at the Fishermen’s Alliance for Meet the Fleet and smiled.
“If they found clams in Provincetown they wouldn’t have sailed to Plymouth,” he said to laughter.
After trying clam chowder, with clams caught off Wellfleet, and mini-stuffy gems prepared by Brian Reeves, owner of PJ’s Family Restaurant, the attendees were inclined to agree as a chorus of ‘Oh my God! This is sooo good,’ filled the air.
Captain Mike Van Hoose joined Keith as speaker, along with Ray Rowell, who crewed on Keith’s boat before joining the team at the Fishermen’s Alliance. The clams the crowd was enjoying had been caught by Van Hoose, of F/V Nemesis.
Van Hoose, 27, has been fishing since he graduated high school. He did some gillnetting and fishing for mackerel in Chatham, but has been working for Jesse Rose – Keith’s cousin – for a few years, concentrating on sea clams and scallops.
One of the reasons why places like PJs, and a host of other restaurants as well as Farmers Markets, offer clams is because Rose, who also owns F/V Midnight Our, processes them in Chatham.
Before he bought that shop, said Rowell, sea clams had to go off Cape to be processed and then trucked back on; now the clams can stay in the community.
Reeves alone uses between 500 and 600 pounds of Jesse’s clams a week, and he raves about how sweet they are.
He walked the audience through the stuffy recipe – the first step, he said, was to text Jesse and he gets clams the next day. (Audience members got to take home their own bag of diced clams from Jesse as a parting gift so they could see for themselves.)
The sea clam is used in a variety of dishes – from clam strips to linguini with chopped clams – and is also popular in the sushi market, which Keith caters too. Van Hoose said virtually every part of the sea clam is used, the tongue is chopped, the lips become clam strips, and the adductor muscles look like scallops and taste great. For those in the audience who had difficulty picturing a sea clam, Van Hoose said their shells are typically the ashtrays you find at old beach houses.
With the help of some videos, and images, Van Hoose and Keith Rose were able to explain to the curious crowd what sea clamming entails. A hydraulic dredge using water coming from nozzles “set at secret angles,” said Van Hoose with a smile, loosens the sand and the clams tumble into the cage.
Keith Rose said he can go with just one crew member, but he likes to take two. Finding help is hard, he said, adding that he has brought on women, husband and husband teams and husband and wife teams. “We work with whoever wants to work hard,” he said.
The clams have to be five-inches to stay in the cage, the spaces between the bars of the dredge let the smaller ones slide right through.
Rose said they are very careful with the way they harvest the clams and make sure it is done properly, that way the fishery is sustainable.
Rose, who fishes in state waters – within three miles of shore – has been sea clamming for 40 years and can go back to the places he has traditionally fished and still catch clams. He said sometimes the larger off-Cape boats aren’t as careful.
Surf clamming is a year-round fishery and the state-permitted boats are limited to 200 bushels a day. Although one doesn’t see fresh surf clams sold in markets, it’s an important fishery. According to the state Division of Marine Fisheries, Barnstable County’s landings in 2022 were 6.4 million pounds, which is only 16 percent of Massachusetts landings. In 2023, sea clams were the fifth most valuable species in the state, behind scallop, lobster, oyster and haddock.
Van Hoose said they can fish from a half an hour before sunrise to a half an hour after sunset, but they will head for home once they catch their limit. Sometimes that can be done in eight or nine 20- minute tows, he said.
There is a bit of finesse required for success. They may have to change up the water pressure, zig zag a bit.
“It’s basically a big chess game,” he said. “You have to fail a lot to learn.”
Boats on the Cape are typically smaller and don’t have the equipment larger boats do, so instead of the dredge automatically dumping the clams, using a stern ramp, the crew has to swing it on deck by hand.
That can be dangerous, said Rowell, moving a 4,000-pound cage manually, especially in high seas.
The Fishermen’s Alliance is working with fishermen on the Cape to make the federal fishery safer and better for local business plans. Melissa Sanderson, chief operating officer at the Fishermen’s Alliance, said the federal rules require an extra tag to be put on each container of clams, to track the individual transferable quota that is used to manage the fishery. The federal fishery is comprised of mostly very large, off-Cape boats. But one federal tag uses up 32 bushels, or 2,560 pounds of surf clam quota. Cape fishermen don’t have the space or equipment to handle or offload their catch in the standard 32 bushel cage.
If the tags could be subdivided for smaller containers, perhaps five or 10 bushels, fishermen on the Cape could have more flexibility and control over their catch, and land a higher quality product. Now, even if they land in 15 bushel containers they need to use the tag for 32, which means they have lost the opportunity to land those 17 additional bushels, and lost money they have invested if they purchased or leased the tags.
The trio also fielded a lot of questions, including how old do sea clams get – it is estimated that the ones they are bringing in range from 5 to 30 years old. Van Hoose said some people believe you can tell how old a sea clam is by counting its rings, similar to trees.
“You spend a lot of time with just a couple of guys on a boat. This conversation can get heated,” he said to laughter.