LONG BEACH — Eight more days of razor clam digging on the Long Beach Peninsula begin Saturday, with an additional eight days tentatively scheduled for late January and early February.
Low afternoon tides on Saturday and Sunday will allow diggers to hit the beaches during daylight, said Dan Ayres, coastal shellfish manager for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.
The best digging typically is one to two hours before low tide. No digging is allowed before noon.
Low tides for the upcoming eight-day dig are: 0.1 feet, 4:15 p.m., Saturday; -0.6 feet, 5:02 p.m.; Sunday; -1.1 feet, 5:47 p.m., Monday; -1.4 feet, 6:30 p.m., Jan. 20; -1.4 feet, 7:13 p.m., Jan. 21; -1.1 feet, 7:36 p.m., Jan. 22; -0.6 feet, 8:40 p.m., Jan. 23, and 0.1 feet, 9:25 p.m., Jan. 24.
Diggers are required to keep the first 15 clams dug. Each digger’s clams must be kept in a separate container.
The Department of Fish and Wildlife has proposed another series of digging in late January and early February is marine toxin tests indicate the clams are safe to eat.
Those dates and low tides are: 0.5 feet, 3:43 p.m., Jan. 30; 0.2 feet, 4:32 p.m., Jan. 31; 0.0 feet, 5:15 p.m., Feb. 1; -0.1 feet, 5:53 p.m., Feb. 2; -0.1 feet, 6:27 p.m., Feb. 3; 0.0 feet, 6:59 p.m., Feb. 4; 0.2 feet, 7:30 p.m., Feb. 5, and 0.5 feet, 8 p.m., Feb. 6.
An annual razor clam license costs $13. A three-day clam license costs $8.60. An annual combination fishing-shellfish license costs $54.25.
Washington’s recreational licenses operate on an April-through-March annual cycle.
