Geoduck, The Most Expensive Clam

Geoducks, the precious Clams

Geoduck is one of the highest priced deep-sea organisms in the Pacific Northwest region. They’re most common habitat is the region of Puget Sound. It is enormous in size and considered the biggest deep mining clam. The neck of a geoduck is quite, enlarged and is comparable to the trunk of an elephant and exhibits leather like surface. These geoducks are so costly and high valued that they are sold in exchange of dope and other illegal drugs. For this reason as well the geoduck harvesting is considered a very profitable business.

It is hard to believe that just four decades back, there was no acknowledgment of the expensiveness of these clams. However, nowadays the fishermen of Puget Sound harvest two million pounds worth of geoduck annually, equal to about two million dollars. Geoducks are so costly that a single clam may range in price up to $60 in the fish markets of Hong Kong. Generally, the clams are sent to China. The chefs in Beijing and Shanghai just boil the clams or simmer them a little on stove. In high-level restaurants in New York, the geoducks are served with rice wine vinegar. Geoducks are also used in sushi and sashimi making the Japanese cuisine very expensive. These geoducks are known as mirugai in Japan where they are imported from the United States. The neck part of the geoduck is the most valuable of all while the rest is mostly useless.

However strange they may look, geoducks cultivated in Pacific Northwest are a gourmet food in many countries around the world. Their harvest was not allowed on a commercial level before 1960s. The Washington government only permitted it after the discovery of large beds of these geoducks in the deep ice-cold waters of Puget Sound Region. A navy diver made this discovery in 1967. After that, Washington government auctioned the rights for commercial harvesting of geoducks. Brian Hodgson, an auditor by profession, along with his friends, leased a few of these geoduck colonies. He started the harvest and became famous in the business. In the earlier part of 1970s, in association with a Japanese-American partner, he expanded the business to the Far East. The geoducks have a large market in China where they are considered a great food delicacy.

Because of the very few places where these geoducks are harvested, there were burglaries, which led to further increase in their prices. In 1980 Hodgson was blamed for the theft of a million pounds of geoduck. He confirmed the charges and gave his divers a map of closed shellfish colonies that was in the form of a handbook called “Poacher’s Handbook”.  This proved that his divers could earn huge sums of money due to the great access they had to that place.

Raising and harvesting geoducks requires a lot of effort and a huge sum to be invested into the business prior to getting any profits. Once harvested, geoduck colonies need at least four to five years to be ready again for the harvesting. This obviously increases their rates.