The Seattle Times reports that an unlikely product is proving increasingly profitable, thanks to high demand from China and a limited geographical distribution. The geoduck -- pronounced "gooey-duck" -- an unusual clam that has a long neck and a different flavor than its smaller cousins, is fetching high prices in seafood markets, especially in Asia.
"A single pair of these gleaming mollusks sold at a Puget Sound dock could pay for an upscale Seattle dinner for two," the Seattle Times reports. "Three milk crates of these shellfish purchased at a Shanghai restaurant could pay for a year of undergraduate tuition at the University of Washington."
Part of the boom in geoducks is due to their limited distribution. The geoduck can primarily be found in the waters of the Pacific Northwest, from California to Southeast Alaska. Geoducks can easily fetch more than $15 per pound, and last year the Southeast Alaska Regional Dive Fisheries Association was predicting the market would continue to grow. In the 2010-2011 season, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game estimated that the clam harvests were worth more than $8 million.
With such high prices, the Seattle Times reports that illegal harvesting of the shellfish is also on the upswing. Alaska has a different kind of threat to the population, though, with Fishermen's News reporting that re-emerging Southeast Alaska otter populations may have a negative effect on the region's geoducks.
Read a bit more on last season's Alaska harvests at Fishermen's News, and a whole lot more about the geoduck market at the Seattle Times.