Quahog or geo duck4/3/2023 ![]() Digging them requires a strong back and a stronger work ethic. Quahogs burrow into mud in the intertidal zone and below the tidewaters. One of the nice things about quahogs (in addition to their flavor) is that they filter impurities out of the water. Quahogs feed on plankton, and plankton feeds on nitrates, which water treatment plants can’t filter out. Population growth along Narragansett Bay has actually helped the quahog population. You’ll find Rhode Island smack in the center of quahog country. Though quahogs are native to the Atlantic coast from Prince Edward Island to the Yucatan, they are most abundant from Cape Cod to New Jersey. New Englanders are really the only ones who call them quahogs. ‘Quahog’ comes from the Narragansett word, ‘poquauhock.’ The Narragansett people had used their shells for wampum. Enter the QuahogĪ quahog (pronounced KO-hog) is a large, hard-shelled clam. A quahog moves through the mud with a muscular little foot. Then World War II came along, depriving the remaining oyster companies of strong backs and willing hands to harvest oysters.įortunately for Rhode Island stomachs, the quahog stepped in. It wiped out shucking houses, shipping wharves and oyster boats. The devastating hurricane of 1938 dealt a near-fatal blow to Narragansett Bay’s oyster industry. Then in 1938 came the Great New England hurricane, which pretty much wiped out the oyster industry. But things went downhill from there, as pollution continued to harm the oyster beds. Oyster harvesters had a banner year in 1911, landing 1.4 million bushels of oysters. The vessel tows the dredge along the bottom of the sea collecting the bottom-dwelling oysters. got itself sued in 1905 for polluting the Narragansett Bay.īoats dredging for oysters, around 1875. Then during the 19th century, the General Assembly passed legislation to encourage oyster fishing and aquaculture.īut by 1896, the oyster beds started to diminish because of industrial pollution. Three decades later, the state started closing oyster beds for the same reason. In 1766, the legislature tried to prevent overfishing by requiring oysters to be harvested with tongs. More oyster regulations followed as circumstances dictated. The Rhode Island legislature banned the practice in 1734 as a waste of good oyster meat. In 1700, oyster fishermen harvested the mollusks – but for their shells, to make lime. Oystering in Narragansett Bay, like most fisheries, went through a series of ups and downs over the years. We know that because Roger Williams in 1643 described the Narragansett Indians fishing for oysters.īut World War II, pollution and hurricanes wiped out the Narragansett Bay oyster industry. If you know anything about Rhode Island, you know the quahog is sacred and peculiar to America’s smallest and wateriest state.Īnother mollusk harvested from Narragansett Bay dominated Rhode Island cuisine for centuries.
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