LUBEC – They feed their families with the turn of their hoe, and clammers in this part of Washington County are hopping mad at the national and state media.

During a meeting of local clammers held at the Lubec town office Wednesday night, Julie Keene said CNN and NBC have shown maps that suggested that everything from Massachusetts to Maine was closed to harvesting clams because of red tide, an infestation of plankton that can make shellfish dangerous for humans to eat.

But that’s not true.

There are open areas in Cobscook Bay from Lubec to Perry.

She said she contacted the national media to tell them their facts were wrong.

“I told them not all of Maine is shut down,” she said. “I said Cobscook Bay, the inner bay inside, still has healthy clams and we have the best clams and we can’t sell them because of your news report.”

The price has plummeted from $1.60 to $1.10 a pound because clammers believe the bad press has hurt them.

Consumers are undeniably scared.

The current red tide outbreak, which marine officials are calling the worst in decades, has forced the closure of shellfish grounds along the New England coast from Massachusetts to Maine.

Red tide is caused by a microscopic plankton that, in high enough concentrations, can cause seawater to take on a reddish tinge. The toxic plankton does not hurt the filter feeders, such as clams, mussels and oysters, that take the organisms into their bodies; they can flush the organisms once the red tide has passed.

People who eat infected shellfish, however, can become seriously ill and in rare cases can die of suffocation from paralytic shellfish poisoning.

The clammers discussed strategies to battle the negative press.

They started by inviting newspaper, radio and television stations to the meeting.

“Even though [the waters and clams are] being tested, people don’t realize that the clams are safe and we’ve got to stress that somehow,” said Harry Shain, president of the Cobscook Bay Fisherman’s Association.

According to Keene, state television stations have added to the hysteria.

“I called my family in Portland and some friends I have down there. They told me there was a news team down there that fed a rat some clams that had red tide and within 30 seconds the rat was dead on TV,” she said. “The public is so afraid to eat clams at this point that they’re terrified of everything.”

Their second goal is to get the state to come to the clammers’ defense by issuing press releases that attest to the fact that clams taken from open areas in Cobscook Bay are safe. She said she was upset because the Department of Marine Resources, which handles the testing, has not come to their defense.

“They don’t even pick up the telephone and call the TV and say, ‘My God the people Down East are barely surviving … and you’ve just killed them. Would you please retract that story,'” she said.

The governor’s office, Keene said, assured her that the state planned to issue a press release saying clams from this area were safe.

Their third battle line is to form a co-op that will work on behalf of all clammers. The clammers agreed there was strength in numbers.

“We feel we have to organize a co-op to keep us out of the mess we’ve been in over the years,” clammer Danny Fitzsimmons said.