ABSTRACT
Field biologists promoted California's first clam harvest regulations midway through the Great Depression, [nearly three-quarters] of a century ago. Their purpose was environmental protection. By limiting the number of clams that could be harvested, they sought to conserve the clambeds of areas like Tomales Bay in Marin County. [At present], Tomales Bay has yet to recover from the good intentions. Of the three clam varieties that crowded its beaches in 1935, two were extinct by 1945 (including a prized but tough horseneck) and the third was barely hanging on.
