This story originally appeared in East Greenwich News, a nonprofit, digital newsroom dedicated to covering the town and nearby neighborhoods. Read more at EastGreenwichNews.com.

Greenwich Cove is full of clams that are illegal to harvest because of the high levels of bacteria there. But, it turns out, clams can flush out bacteria pretty quickly when they are in cleaner waters. So, once a year, the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management oversees a big quahog transfer. They hire quahoggers – 56 this year – to rake up as many clams in a day that they can, then rehome the clams. This year, the clams were moved into the western half of Greenwich Bay, which will stay closed until December.

According to Anna Gerber-Williams, principal marine biologist with DEM’s Division of Marine Fisheries, there’s good news regarding Greenwich Cove – high amounts of bacteria is a fixable problem. Heavy metals or other contaminants – those would be tougher problems to solve. The depuration – that’s the term used when referring to the process of shellfish filtering or cleansing – takes a minimum of 60 days. These clams will get six months before they can be harvested. 

The 56 quahoggers who worked the cove Tuesday, May 5, collected a total of 76,550 pounds of clams for the transfer. DEM paid the quahoggers $15 a bag and some filled as many as 40 bags. On May 7, 51 quahoggers moved 76,450 pounds of clams out of Apponaug Cove. Both days were “very successful,” said Gerber-Williams.

Anecdotally, she said, the clams were bigger coming out of Apponaug Cove. But size didn’t matter. “They’re just getting whatever pulls up in their rakes,” she said. 

Gerber-Williams confirmed there’s been a decrease in the overall clam population in Narragansett Bay. 

“Twenty years ago, you were looking at a much different situation,” she said. “There’s no one single answer [as to why].” She pointed to over-fishing and climate change as significant factors, but said “there are a multitude of factors and that’s why we keep doing these transfers.”