Rhode Island’s bay quahog landings rank among the highest in value.

WARWICK, R.I. (AP) – Owen “Mudbelly” Kelly works his 22-foot-long metal rake along the muddy cove bottom like a jackhammer, filling a basket with dozens of quahogs in less than two minutes.

“Black gold,” says Kelly of the dirty, dark-shelled clams that spill into his boat, each one typically representing a dime or quarter in his pocket when sold.

On Wednesday, however, the harvest wasn’t going to market. Instead, the polluted catch hauled in by more than 50 shellfishermen was to be transplanted into a cleaner area of Narragansett Bay. The clams will be left there for nearly two years to grow and reproduce.

For Kelly and the state’s 350 other full-time quahoggers, the program helps maintain a supply they depend on for their livelihoods. It also puts money in their pocket during winter, when the fishing is toughest. Quahogs transplanted from polluted waters are made available for harvest each December.

“When you have to go out and get that $50 to $100 a day to pay the electric bill, it’s huge,” said Kelly, 46, of the program.

The program, which began in 1978, was nearly derailed this year due to budget constraints, before Gov. Don Carcieri provided $50,000 from a fund he controls.

The move made the Republican governor, a quahogger during his days growing up in East Greenwich, a hero to Kelly, a Democrat, and many other shellfishermen.

Carcieri, 60, was greeted warmly as he toured the transplant operation by boat.

“This is still an important industry. It’s part of Rhode Island’s soul,” said the governor, who recalled digging for the hard-shell clams in flat-bottom, wooden skiffs.

The commercial value of the state’s bay quahog landings ranked among the highest in the country in 2001, the most recent year for which the National Marine Fisheries Service has statistics. New York led the list at $13.5 million, followed by Connecticut at $10 million, then Rhode Island at $7 million.

If ocean quahogs are factored in, New Jersey comes out on top in 2001 in total commercial value, at more than $17 million.

The service could not provide statistics for Massachusetts, which also has an active bay quahog industry. In 1999, the most recent year available, the commercial value of such quahogs landed in the state was just over $7 million, according to Neil Churchill, a Massachusetts marine fisheries biologist.

The smallest variety, called littlenecks, make the best eating and bring the top price for the fishermen. The largest are often used for chowder or stuffing.

The number of shellfishermen licensed to harvest bay quahogs in Rhode Island has declined from a high of 3,700 about 20 years ago to 1,200 today, says Art Ganz, the state’s supervising marine biologist.

Yet it remains a viable industry the state wants to protect, Ganz said. Quahoggers in the state take home about $2 million annually.

He says the decline in the number of licenses in part reflects cyclical changes in the economy.

“When you have a flush economy people do other things,” he said. “When times are bad … they hop in their skiff and go raking,” he said.

Ganz said continuing the transplant program was important this year because without it, there would be no new shellfishing area to open in December 2004. That’s when the 400,000 pounds transplanted this year will be available to Kelly and other quahoggers.

The fishermen were paid 10 cents per pound for each 50-pound bag they helped transplant on Wednesday.

“It doesn’t mean a lot (financially), but it’s for our future and our kids’ futures,” Kelly said.

He grew up playing around the water in Warwick and says it was natural to turn to it to make a living. Despite the physical toll of six-day weeks digging, he says he’ll never do anything else. He’s married with no children.

“It’s like being in the last wilderness,” he said. “I’m in for life.”

AP-ES-05-14-03 1733EDT