Editing Geoduck (section)

==Industry==
{{main|Geoduck aquaculture}}
The world's first geoduck fishery was created in 1970, but demand for the half-forgotten clam was low at first due to its texture.{{Citation needed|date=March 2014}} {{As of|2011}}, these clams sell in China for over US{{convert|15|$/lb|$/kg|order=flip|disp=or}}.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.komonews.com/news/problemsolvers/117024808.html |title=Chinese mafia rakes in millions from 'Puget Sound gold' |author=Vedder, Tracy |date=3 March 2011 |publisher=KOMOnews.com |access-date=6 March 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606152213/http://www.komonews.com/news/problemsolvers/117024808.html |archive-date=6 June 2011 |df=dmy }}</ref><ref>Welch, Craig, 2012. NW geoducks fetch top dollar in China, and as prices soar, so do concerns about illegal harvesting in Puget Sound, ''The Seattle Times'', 22 April 2012, pp 1 & 10.</ref>

The geoduck's high market value has created an $80-million industry, with harvesting occurring in the US states of [[Alaska]], [[Washington (state)|Washington]], and [[Oregon]] and the [[Provinces and territories of Canada|Canadian province]] of [[British Columbia]]. It is one of the most closely regulated fisheries in both countries. In Washington, [[Washington Department of Natural Resources|Department of Natural Resources]] staff are on the water continually monitoring harvests to ensure revenues are received, and the same is true in Canada where the Underwater Harvesters' Association manages the Canadian Fishery in conjunction with Canada's Department of Fisheries and Oceans. The [[Washington State Department of Health]] tests water and flesh to assure clams are not filtering and holding pollutants, an ongoing problem. With the rise in price has come the inevitable problem with poaching, and with it the possibility some could be harvested from unsafe areas.<ref name="kitsapsun1">{{cite news |last=Dunagan |first=Christopher |url=http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2012/feb/27/poaching-hurts-geoduck-population-growth/ |title=Poaching hurts geoduck population growth |newspaper=Kitsap Sun |access-date=5 June 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120229025723/http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2012/feb/27/poaching-hurts-geoduck-population-growth/ |archive-date=29 February 2012 |df=dmy }}</ref>

{{As of|2007}}, advances in the testing system for contaminated clams have allowed geoduck harvesters to deliver live clams more consistently. The new testing system determines the viability of clams from tested beds before the harvesters fish the area. Previous methods tested clams after harvest. This advance has meant that 90 percent of clams were delivered live to market in 2007. In 2001, only 10 percent were live.<ref name=NF>{{cite news |url=http://www.nationalfisherman.com/month-content.asp?ItemID=1110&pcid=184&cid=187&archive=yes |author=Ess, Charlie |title=Toxin test gives live market a boost; quota also gets a significant bump |work=National Fisherman |access-date=1 August 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061114115424/http://www.nationalfisherman.com/month-content.asp?ItemID=1110&pcid=184&cid=187&archive=yes |archive-date=14 November 2006 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> Because geoduck have a much higher market value live, an additional {{convert|2|to|3|$/lb|$/kg|order=flip|disp=or}}, this development has helped to stimulate the burgeoning industry.

The [[COVID-19 pandemic]] disrupted the geoduck industry. Given the near-shutdown of restaurants and seafood markets across the country, demand for live geoducks plummeted. Divers in Southeast Alaska who typically see prices of {{convert|5|to|10|$/lb|$/kg|order=flip|disp=or}} for live geoducks reported prices as low as {{convert|1|$/lb|$/kg|order=flip|disp=or}}, leading many to stop fishing temporarily.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.alaskapublic.org/2020/02/17/coronavirus-shutters-southeast-alaska-geoduck-clam-fishery/|title=Coronavirus shutters Southeast Alaska geoduck clam fishery|last1=Stone|first1=Eric|last2=Ketchikan|first2=Alaska's Energy Desk-|date=2020-02-18|website=Alaska Public Media|language=en-US|access-date=2020-02-18}}</ref>

<gallery widths="155px" heights="200px">
File:2009 Mollusca in Hong Kong.JPG|Seafood geoduck display in a Chinese restaurant in Hong Kong
File:Seattle - Curiosity Shop geoduck 01A.jpg|An ostensibly record-setting geoduck, [[Ye Olde Curiosity Shop]], Seattle, Washington.
</gallery>

===Environmental impact===
Geoduck farming grow-out and harvest practices are controversial,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ProtectOurShoreline.org/slideshow/POS_ShellfishAquacultureConcerns.pdf |title=Geoduck aquaculture in South Puget Sound|website=Protectourshoreline.org|access-date=2017-05-23}}</ref> and have created conflicts with shoreline property owners,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ProtectOurShoreline.org |title=Protect Our Shoreline |publisher=Protect Our Shoreline |date=12 July 2000 |access-date=5 June 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.APHETI.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929202803/http://www.apheti.com/ |archive-date=29 September 2007 |title=APHETI-Association to Protect Hammersley, Eld and Totten Inlets |publisher=Apheti.com |access-date=5 June 2012 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.responsibleshellfishfarming.ca/ |title=Responsible Shellfish Farming BC |publisher=Responsibleshellfishfarming.ca |access-date=5 June 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120218145119/http://www.responsibleshellfishfarming.ca/ |archive-date=18 February 2012 |df=dmy }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.hendersonbayshorelineassociation.com|title=Henderson Bay Shoreline Association|access-date=20 May 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928092333/http://www.hendersonbayshorelineassociation.com/|archive-date=28 September 2007|df=dmy-all}}</ref> and concerns from nongovernmental organizations.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.psp.wa.gov/aboutthepartnership.php |title=About the Partnership |publisher=Puget Sound Partnership |access-date=8 May 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090507010124/http://www.psp.wa.gov/aboutthepartnership.php |archive-date=7 May 2009 |df=dmy }}</ref> However, the [[Environmental Defense Fund]] has found that bivalves (oysters, mussels, and clams) are beneficial to the marine environment.<ref name="XXX">{{cite journal | journal=Environmental Defense for Pew Oceans Commission | year=2001 | title=Marine Aquaculture in the United States | last=Goldburg| first=Rebecca|display-authors=etal }}</ref> The water must be certifiably clean to plant geoducks commercially.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.doh.wa.gov/ehp/sf/commercial.htm |title=Commercial Shellfish Licensing & Certification Program |publisher=Washington State Department of Health Office of Shellfish and Water Protection |access-date=8 May 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090506230813/http://www.doh.wa.gov/ehp/sf/commercial.htm |archive-date=6 May 2009 |df=dmy }}</ref> Regulation was mandated in 2007.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/sea/shellfishcommittee/index.html |title=Shellfish Aquaculture Regulatory Committee |publisher=Washington State Department of Ecology |access-date=10 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070821124924/http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/sea/shellfishcommittee/index.html |archive-date=21 August 2007 |df=dmy-all }}</ref><ref>{{cite report|title=Interim Progress Report: House Bill 2220 Shellfish Aquaculture Regulatory Committee|url=https://apps.ecology.wa.gov/publications/documents/0706027.pdf|publisher=House Committee on Ecology and Parks House Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources Senate Committee on Natural Resources, Ocean & Recreation|date=December 2007|access-date=1 January 2023}}</ref> Studies have been funded to determine short- and long-term environmental and genetic impacts.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wsg.washington.edu/research/geoduck/current_research.html |title=Current Geoduck Research |publisher=Washington Sea Grant |access-date=5 June 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120619202845/http://www.wsg.washington.edu/research/geoduck/current_research.html |archive-date=19 June 2012 |df=dmy }}</ref> In southern Puget Sound, the effect of geoduck farming on large mobile animals is ambiguous.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Brown | first1 = R. A. | last2 = Thuesen | first2 = E. V. | year = 2011 | title = Biodiversity of mobile benthic fauna in geoduck (''Panopea generosa'') aquaculture beds in southern Puget Sound, Washington | journal = Journal of Shellfish Research | volume = 30 | issue = 3| pages = 771–776 | doi = 10.2983/035.030.0317 | s2cid = 2075387 }}</ref> A 2004 draft biological assessment, commissioned by three of the largest commercial shellfish companies in the Puget Sound region, identified no long-term effects of geoduck farming on threatened or endangered species.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.protectourshoreline.org/taylor/7BiologicalEvaluation.pdf |title=Programmatic Biological Evaluation |website=Protectourshoreline.org |access-date=2017-05-23}}</ref>