BANGOR — Native American tribes have been doing it for thousands of years, so it didn’t hurt when a few sixth graders from Vinland Elementary School did it, too.
“Eat it! Eat it! Eat it!” chanted several of sixth grader Katie Herzog’s classmates as she cracked open an oyster shell and ate the raw meat found inside.
As Herzog scrunched up her face in disgust and squirmed after she swallowed the slippery substance, her peers cheered but were amusingly grossed out at the same time.
The eating dares and shellfish digs were just a small part of the sixth graders’ Earth Day adventure at Naval Submarine Base Bangor on April 22.
Sheila Murray and Steve Rothenberg, both environmental protection specialists at Bangor, invited Steve Remmer’s class to help clean up some of the base’s beaches and learn about the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe’s historic shellfishing practices at the tribe’s access beach there.
Marie Hebert, the tribe’s cultural specialist, and Tamara Gage, the tribe’s shellfish biologist, explained the importance of shellfishing, Port Gamble S’Klallam’s treaty rights to harvesting shellfish and even shared mythical stories about the common delicacies of the region.
Clams were not originally water creatures, but lived with the other animals on dry land, Gage explained, noting that the mollusks were terrible gossips.
Because the clams talked so much and the animals didn’t appreciate their bad habit, they banned the shellfish to the beach.
As a result, when clams appear to be spitting, they are actually clearing out their mouths so they can start spreading gossip again, Gage said.
Hebert also explained how the tribe works with the State of Washington to let tribal members and non-natives equally harvest the shellfish through treaties.
“We spend time and energy on the resource that is so important to the tribe and so you and your family can harvest as well,” Hebert told the kids.
After the quick study of the native shellfish and history, Hebert and Rothenberg showed the kids how to properly dig for clams, which ones to harvest and, of course, how to crack open those tricky oyster shells.
A group “ewwwww…” came from the kids as water and sand spilled from a shell Rothenberg was opening. But that didn’t deter the kids, who, 10 minutes later, were trying their careful hands at doing the same.
“Is it shuckable?” Sixth grader Taylor Ogle asked as she laughed and struggled with her first shell.
“It’s fun, I guess,” said classmate Colin Schmalte. “It’s the first time I’ve actually done it. I’m liking it. I might do it again.”
“I think its a cool thing to do,” Rothenberg said about the kids coming out and working and scouring the beaches. “It’s great for them to do stuff like this, even though it may seem like they are goofing around and they aren’t learning anything. But you’d be surprised — something in the back of their head will stick.”
