Pismo Beach Clam Festival Loves Pismo Clams
This weekend a beach town named after the Pismo clam holds its annual namesake festival. Each October the Pismo Beach Clam Festival celebrates the distinctively flavored seafood prepared as award-winning clam chowder in Pismo Beach! The word, “pismo” comes from the Chumash Indian word “pismu,” meaning “tar,” because of the natural deposits of tar found in the Pismo Beach area.
The Pismo clam invertebrate species once supported a significant commercial fishery and harvest which began in the early 1900s when horse-drawn plows were used to rake the beaches. By 1911 popularity of Pismo clam meat for human consumption had grown in the historic epicenter of recreational clamming. Shortly after the clam festival was launched in 1946 (bottom-left photo) an estimated 5,000 diggers per day harvested clams. Today legal size clams of 4.5″ are harder to come by and the bag limit is 10 per day.
PISMO CLAMS
- LARGEST: The largest Pismo clam recorded in California came from Pismo Beach. It was 7.37-inches across and estimated to be 26 years old.
- OLDEST: The oldest Pismo clam on record was estimated to be 53 years old.
- GROWTH RINGS: The age of Pismo clams can be determined by the concentric growth rings on the shell.
- The Pismo clam grows continuously throughout its life.
- Fossil remains of Pismo clams have been found in Pleistocene deposits at least 25,000 years old
- The Pismo clam prefers warmer waters south of Half Moon Bay; it doesn’t fare well in cold waters.
- PREDATORS include humans, sharks, rays, gulls, sea otters and some species of surf fish.
