PLUM ISLAND, Mass. — July 16, 2013 — No one likes a sandy clam. And that evidently includes state lawmakers, who recently approved an expenditure of $400,000 for the operation of the Newburyport Shellfish Purification Plant.
The state-owned facility, which receives funding each year, purifies clams that have been exposed to the vagaries of water quality off the Commonwealth’s shores.
The plant is also implementing “desanding” services that state officials say is valued by diners.
“Some clams do not require purification, but they are more marketable when they have been desanded,” said Paul J. Diodati, director of the state Division of Marine Fisheries, which runs the plant.
“The amount of area open to digging changes because of rainfall, red tide and elements like that, but the purification plant is important to ensure that all shellfish are clean and edible,” he added.
The purification plant employs about nine people in full and part-time positions, state officials say.
Read the full story at Newburyport News