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Steve York hauls clams across the flats at Collins Cove in Freeport on Tuesday. The flats recently reopened.

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Terry Smith digs clams in Collins Cove in Freeport on Tuesday. “I’m working twice as much for the same money,” he said.

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Jack Milton/Staff PhotographerTerry Smith digs clams in Collins Cove in Freeport on Tuesday. “I’m working twice as much for the same money,” he said.

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Photos by Jack Milton/Staff PhotographerSteve York hauls clams across the flats at Collins Cove in Freeport on Tuesday. The flats recently reopened.uFEFF

Steve York picked through the grainy mud of Collins Cove in Freeport, tossing two and three good-sized clams at a time into the plastic bucket beside him.

A few weeks ago, the mud was smooth but for the dimples that show where a clam resides just below the surface. But this day, the entire expanse was mounds and puddles where diggers have been hard at work on the flats that recently opened after being closed for years.

"If you were here opening day, there were 30 to 40 diggers here. They just pounded this area for quite a while," York said.

The state Department of Marine Resources agreed to open a swath of the Harraseeket River after clam diggers worked to convince the agency that the areas were healthy and clean and unaffected by the sewage treatment plant upstream.

Clam diggers are notoriously independent, their income traditionally determined by how hard and fast they work the mud that gets exposed at low tide. But the amount diggers earn is increasingly influenced by pollution that limits where they can dig, rules dictating where they can sell and competition squeezing the price they get. Many harvesters are now banding together to advocate for their industry and their livelihood.

"Locally, we found that... we needed a broader front," said Chad Coffin, chairman of the Freeport Shellfish Commission. He's president of the nascent Maine Clammers Association, which seeks to influence state policy and promote the image of the Maine clam.

The clam industry, which includes softshell clams, mussels and quahogs, generates $30 million in annual revenue, a figure that rises to $50 million if the fuel and other industries that support harvesters are included. Clammers' income varies depending on how many clams they harvest and the price they get. A digger might pull three bushels in a tide or he might pull six, and the price varies from $60 a bushel to $110.

Closures resulting from pollution and red tide cost the industry roughly $3.6 million in 2005, according to an analysis done at the University of Maine at Machias. Large areas were closed last year for the same reasons.

"We found it wasn't just Freeport, Scarborough and Brunswick, but it was the entire coast," Coffin said. "Some areas Down East were worse off than we were. When their mud flats close, the effect of it is even more devastating to the local economy. ... We saw a level of desperation we didn't see in southern Maine."

When mud flats close, diggers are forced to concentrate in smaller areas, cleaning out most of the clams that exceed the 2- inch limit and reducing what an individual can harvest.

Closures are important, however, to make sure shellfish are not contaminated. An outbreak of food poisoning tied to bad shellfish can have long-range repercussions for the industry.

Wet weather last year led to high pollution readings because bacteria and fecal matter were washed into streams that flow into coastal areas. Those readings led to the closure of many areas in the state this year.

"Up and down the coast, we found out we weren't alone," said Clint Goodenow Jr. as he hoisted mesh bags of fresh clams from his aluminum skiff, loading them into the back of a pickup truck at Freeport harbor. "The majority came to the realization we get left behind because we don't have a voice."

Concerns about the closures and fears that diggers in other states face fewer restrictions led lawmakers to require a review of the Department of Marine Resources' testing regimen and closure thresholds. Dozens of clammers turned out to support the bill this spring, and when lack of money threatened to stall it, they raised $45,000 to help fund the measure.

David Etnier, a DMR deputy commissioner, supports an objective review of his agency's testing requirements, which is due to the Legislature by January. But he's not convinced it will lead to major changes.

"They thought we were overzealous and perhaps...