Geoduck

The geoduck clam (Panopea abrupta) occurs from Alaska to the Gulf of California in the northeast Pacific, from the Intertidal zone to depths of at least 110 metres. It buries itself in up to a metre of sand, mud, gravel, and other soft substrates. The fishery occurs throughout coastal British Columbia and is conducted with HOOKA (surface-supply air) dive gear.

Stock Assessment

The management strategy employed in the geoduck fishery is harvest-rate based quotas over rotational fishing areas. Much of the scientific research that is conducted on geoducks is aimed at estimating the biomass of populations in commercially-harvested areas. SCUBA surveys provide the data to estimate the average density; mean individual geoduck weight is obtained from biological and market sampling; and geoduck bed area is estimated from fishery logbook information and from SCUBA and acoustic surveys. The product of these three variables is the estimated biomass. Quotas are derived using a harvest rate of 1.8% of biomass. To date, almost 50% of the measured geoduck bed area has been surveyed either by SCUBA or remote-sensing acoustic surveys, or both. Thus, the recommended commercial harvest amounts are increasingly based on information derived from data and less on conservative extrapolation. Quotas and harvest amounts are stable with no anticipation of change, barring that resulting from population declines due to sea otter (Enhydra lutris) predation.

In-season, the fishery is managed on a fine spatial scale, allowing qualitative information to be collected for most beds harvested, including density estimates and indicators of productivity. Current objectives in Science are to characterize the geoduck beds to allow for spatial analysis and a better understanding of the metapopulation dynamics.

Geoduck research at the Pacific Biological Station is co-funded by the Underwater Harvesters Association (UHA).

Contacts

For more information about the geoduck please see the Stock Status Report (*.pdf file).

(Note: To read Adobe Acrobat files, you may need to download the Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available free of charge from the Adobe website.)

For more information about ongoing research on the geoduck at the Pacific Biological Station, please contact:

Claudia Hand
250-756-7139
Claudia.Hand@dfo-mpo.gc.ca

Dominique Bureau
250-756-7114
Dominique.Bureau@dfo-mpo.gc.ca

Ian Murfitt
250-756-7081
Ian.Murfitt@dfo-mpo.gc.ca

Miriam O
250-756-3365
Miriam.O@dfo-mpo.gc.ca

Reziah Khan
250-756-7156
Reziah.Khan@dfo-mpo.gc.ca

Palmira Boutillier