Veteran bay clammer to share stories of life on the water

In his almost 60 years of clamming on the Great South Bay, Steve Kuhn has seen it all.

He’s braved blistering heat and sudden squalls, battled swirling winds and changing tides.

Over time, Kuhn has watched an industry that once employed thousands of full-time clammers on Long Island dwindle to a handful of hearty souls.

Still, 9-to-5 landlubbers think life on the water means freedom and serenity. Clamming on Long Island was even the subject of the 2006 film, “Diggers,” starring Paul Rudd.

But Kuhn wants people to know that, more than anything, clamming is tough, physical labor.

When Kuhn published his book in 2020, he knew exactly the title he wanted: “Hard Work: My Life as a Clammer on the Great South Bay.”

The longtime Sayville resident will share tales from his years on the water in a talk Friday at Oakdale’s The View restaurant. It is part of the environmental organization Save the Great South Bay’s speaker series.

Now 78, Kuhn still spends two or three days a week clamming on the Great South Bay.

Despite the rigors of the job and the physical toll—“My back isn’t what it used to be,” Kuhn said—he’s still taken by the beauty of being out on the water in his 20-foot Garvey.

He fell in love with clamming the moment when a friend took him clamming on the bay on a crystal-clear day, back when Kuhn was an undergraduate at North Carolina State University.

“That was like an ‘aha’ moment,” he said.

Kuhn went on to get his degree in environmental design and landscape architecture, which he thought would be his backup plan if earning a living clamming didn’t work out.

He’s never had to turn to Plan B in a career that’s lasted almost six decades and counting, including five years Kuhn spent clamming in Raritan Bay, off Staten Island.

Kuhn credits a trio of his friends and fellow clammers for teaching him the ropes when he first started—how to adjust to the shifting tides and winds that can change direction at a moment’s notice, all while holding a long pole and trying not to fall into the water.

“There’s a lot more that goes into this than just pulling the rake,” Kuhn said. “You have to develop a feeling for this. I knew plenty of guys who were strong as an ox but couldn’t do it.”

Kuhn will sell and sign copies of his book at the Save the Great South Bay event. The book sells for $20 on Amazon and on Kuhn’s website, ClamPower.org, which also sells Clam Power logo apparel. 

Kuhn's Speaker Series can be accessed here.