Moon snail onslaught devastates Maine clam flats

By CLARKE CANFIELD Associated Press Writer

LUBEC, Maine (AP) - The clam digging isn't so good in far eastern Maine these days, and clammers say one big reason is an onslaught of carnivorous moon snails.

The little-known snail drills into clams with its sandpaper-like tongue and eats the meat inside, leaving behind empty shells.

On mud flats in Cobscook Bay along the Canadian border, the snails have been multiplying - devastating the clam population and cutting deeply into clammers' pockets. Diggers get about $1 a pound and bring in about $50 a day.

The clam harvest in bay-area towns has fallen about 85 percent in the past five years.

Marine ecologist Brian Beal (BEEL) says the attack snail population may be up because of a decline in the number of green crabs, which prey upon moon snails and other shellfish.