Extended rain has closed Maine’s coast, from Cape Neddick to the Canadian border, to shellfish harvesting, according to the Maine Department of Marine Resources website.
David Etnier, deputy commissioner of DMR, told The Times Record, that flats have been closed since Saturday because of the possibility of biological contamination from overflowing septic systems, sewers and other sources. Another closure earlier in the month has severely limited the amount of time clammers and others have been able to work, threatening the $12.3 million the DMR estimates the industry pumps into the state’s economy annually.
Etnier told the newspaper that no one can predict when the flats will reopen, given the possibility of more rain through Tuesday, and the time it takes to the DMR test water samples from the affected areas.
