Surfclams (Spisula solidissima)

Essential Fish Habitat (EFH) for Surfclams:

• Juveniles and adults: Throughout the substrate, to a depth of three feet below the water/sediment interface, within federal waters from the eastern edge of Georges Bank and the Gulf of Maine throughout the Atlantic EEZ, in areas that encompass the top 90% of all the ranked ten-minute squares for the area where surfclams were caught in the NEFSC surfclam and ocean quahog dredge surveys. Surfclams generally occur from the beach zone to a depth of about 200 feet, but beyond about 125 feet abundance is low.