I spent my summers as a kid on Bass River. It's a tidel rive on the Natucket Sound side of Cape Cod. We used to clam, crab, pick scollops & oysters off the sand bars at low tide, there was an abundance of marine shellfish, both on the river banks, in the river & along the ocean beaches. It wasn't overfished as only a few of the locals really ever took advantage to these pickings. Shellfish was cheap in those days & it was easier to buy from the local fish markets. Then the fisheries closed off many of the beds to protect & preserve them. But the couldn't keep them safe from the assult on the enviorment. Today when I visit my mother who still lives on the river there is nothing. When I pass the dry sandbars I show my kids where we use to forage for food. There are no crabs, the marshes are lifelees of the ells, horseshoe crabs, blue crabs, etc, the bars are completely dried up of mussels, clams, scollops, oysters, etc.
There's no myth that's my eyes are seeing, just my misty eyes.

Barry