One of two such Freeport businesses blames diminishing resources for the decision.
Citing a drastic decline in resources, the owner of a Freeport wholesaler of clams – one of only two in town – planned to close his business on Tuesday.
Garrett Simmons, who has run S&S Seafood on Litchfield Road since 1999, said that he has gone from handling more than a million pounds of clams three years ago to 300,000 pounds so far this year. Simmons, 51, said he has sold his home, which includes the business space, and will move to Florida near his parents to pursue a new career. A clammer himself, Simmons said that environmental conditions have taken too much of a toll on clams, which in turn harmed his business.
“Sea level and ocean temperature rise are real issues,” Simmons said. “If you follow the science – if there’s any credence to that – it isn’t going to be positive for the soft-shell clam business.”
The closing of S&S Seafood leaves Dennison’s Seafood, located at 220 Main St., as the only wholesale clam business in Freeport. To Chad Coffin, president of the Maine Clammers Association, the development sets off an alarm.
“It speaks volumes to the collapse of the shellfish industry, because of the warming water associated to levels of predation, such as green crabs,” Coffin said. “The green crabs have a larger biomass. A lot of guys will be scrambling to find out where they’re going to sell their clams. Any time the industry loses a vital part of its purchase-and-distribution network, a significant expense is passed back onto the harvester. The clammer, who has no resources, has to assume more responsibility for distribution.”
Coffin said that the closing of S&S Seafood is a “huge loss for the area.”
The closing also leaves a void in the distribution of quahogs, the bigger, hard-shelled clams. They are heavier and more difficult to transport to market, Coffin said.
“Not many people have the equipment to do what Garrett was doing,” Coffin said. “You need huge trucks to transport them.”
Simmons agreed with Coffin that volume drives the market.
“This has been coming on for me for a year,” he said of the decision to close. “I’m in a wholesale business based on volume. With less volume, that’s less money.”
Simmons said he bought most of his soft-shell clams from Freeport’s 46 licensed commercial clammers, and most of his hard-shell clams from West Bath clammers.
John Dennison, owner of Dennison’s, said that he is ready to take on some of Simmons’ customers.
“They’re all welcome to sell to me if they want,” said Dennison, who has been in business for more than 30 years. “There are places to sell them, but (the closing of S&S) could affect the pricing.”
Dennison doesn’t take quahogs.
“I’m in a wholesale business based on volume. With less volume, that’s less money,” says Garrett Simmons as he stands inside his walk-in at S&S Seafood on Litchfield Road in Freeport. Simmons closed his business on Tuesday. Staff photo by Larry GrardSend questions/comments to the editors.
