PORTLAND (AP) — Predictions of widespread red tide outbreaks this summer in New England waters never materialized, allowing clammers to keep digging and keeping plenty of steamed and fried clams on dinner plates.

Authorities had warned over the winter of the potential for extensive outbreaks of the toxic algae that causes red tide, and urged clam harvesters, restaurants, retailers and consumers to prepare for the worst.

The naturally occurring algae produce a toxin that shellfish absorb as they feed. The toxin can taint clams, mussels and other shellfish and make them unsafe for humans to eat, but it poses no risk for fish, lobster, scallops and shrimp. In extreme cases, eating tainted shellfish can cause potentially fatal paralytic shellfish poisoning.

But the red tide fizzled almost before it began. There were only a few scattered, short-lived closures of Maine clam flats this season, and none in New Hampshire or Massachusetts, officials said.

“The only thing we can do is celebrate and heave a collective sigh of relief,” said Jim Markos, general manager at Maine Shellfish Co. in Ellsworth.

In 2005 and 2008, hundreds of miles of clam flats were closed for weeks in Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts, resulting in tens of millions of dollars in losses. Maine got it even worse last year, when officials at one point shut down nearly the entire coast to clam and mussel harvesting.

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Clam diggers were relieved this summer after bracing for another tough season, said Abden Simmons, a longtime digger from Waldoboro.

“There’s nothing you can do to prepare for it,” Simmons said. “A lot of guys after the last couple of years had gotten other jobs, and digging was almost like a side job for them.”

This summer’s red tide had the potential to be as bad as those outbreaks, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration warned: A survey last fall of the ocean bottom off New England found large numbers of microscopic cysts that act like seeds for red tide outbreaks.

The predictions didn’t bear out.

The cysts germinated into algae last spring, said Don Anderson, a senior scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Woods Hole, Mass., who studies red tide in New England waters.

But the algae didn’t multiply as much as expected because the nutrients they feed on were scarce due to warm surface waters, he said. The algae also failed to spread far because of wind and current patterns. Additionally, high levels of algae-consuming zooplankton were found off Massachusetts, keeping it at bay.

“In science, there are always uncertainties,” Anderson said.

The lack of significant outbreaks this summer shows how hard it can be to predict them, said Darcie Couture, director of the Maine Department of Marine Resources’ biotoxin monitoring program.

“People should be really happy we didn’t suffer a crippling economic summer like we did last year when so many things were closed and so many people were out of work for so long,” Couture said.


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