Geoduck aquaculture

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Geoduck aquaculture or geoduck farming is the practice of cultivating geoducks (specifically the Pacific geoduck, Panopea generosa) for human consumption. The geoduck is a large edible saltwater clam, a marine bivalve mollusk, that is native to the Pacific Northwest.

Juvenile geoducks are planted or seeded on the ocean floor or substrate within the soft intertidal and subtidal zones, then harvested five to seven years later when they have reached marketable size (about 1 kg or 2.2 lbs).^[1] They are native to the Pacific region and are found from Baja California, through the Pacific Northwest and Southern Alaska.^[2]

Most geoducks are harvested from the wild, but because of state government-instituted limits on the amount that can be harvested,^[3] the need to grow geoducks in farms to meet an increasing demand has led to the growth of the geoduck aquaculture industry, particularly in Puget Sound, Washington. Geoduck meat is a prized delicacy in Asian cuisine; the majority of exports are sent to China (Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Beijing, are the main Chinese markets), Hong Kong and Japan.^[4]