SCARBOROUGH (AP) – This summer’s red tides have resulted in red ink for Maine clam diggers.

Large blooms of toxic algae known as red tides have forced state officials to close much of the coast to shellfishing during much of the past two months.

Some areas were closed for so long that officials are seeking financial relief for diggers. Some diggers have sold outboard motors or furniture to pay their bills.

“August is always our best month. It’s the highest (price),” said Peter Anderson, a Scarborough digger. “So when you lose three weeks in August, it’s a big hit.”

This year, red tide closures hit the coast in June, increased in July and August and continue to affect many areas of the state. While shellfish beds in many areas, including Scarborough and hard-hit eastern Maine, were reopened last week, much of York County was added to the list of areas that remain closed.

Most of Maine’s roughly 2,000 licensed clam diggers have a permit to work in only one town, so they cannot move up and down the coast to avoid closures.

In eastern Maine around Cobscook Bay, clam flats were closed for nearly two months before reopening last week. It was a severe hardship for local diggers because a poor blueberry crop eliminated one of the only other job options.

“There’s no blueberries either, so it’s a double whammy,” said Calvin Preston, a former clam digger from Dennysville. “This is the worst we’ve seen since back in 1980 and 1981.”

Preston now runs a second-hand store and said out-of-work clam diggers sold him furniture, boats and motors to cover their expenses. Preston said he stopped buying when he ran out of storage room to hold the belongings.

State Rep. Albion Goodwin, D-Pembroke, and U.S. Rep. Michael Michaud, D-Maine, are working to get federal disaster assistance for Down East clammers, who are not eligible to collect unemployment.

“These people are desperate,” said Goodwin, who also helped get electricity turned back on for one family last week. “These people have been out of work for eight weeks.”

With the widespread closures this summer, prices have climbed higher than they have in years, dealers say.

Retail prices for softshell clams reached $3.99 per pound last month, according to Alicia Leeman at J & A Seafoods in Brunswick. The price was down to $3.49 last week and will likely drop this week, she said.

The unusually high prices, if they last, could help Maine diggers recover some of the income they lost this summer.

Diggers were earning more than $2.40 a pound last week – as much as $400 to $500 for six hours of digging. That kind of money is not expected to last long, however, and it probably will be impossible for many diggers to make up for the July and August closures.

State officials, meanwhile, are watching for more red tides before the summer is finished. Laurie Bean of the Maine Department of Marine Resources said a severe outbreak last fall appeared to follow large storms that surged up the East Coast and may have stirred up the algae or pushed it into shore.

“With the storms coming…I’m anxious about that happening again this year,” she said.