Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., has introduced a bill that would investigate the decline of hard shell clams and other bivalves throughout the Eastern Seaboard. Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., is co-sponsoring the Quantifying Uncertainty and Action to Help Optimize Growth of Shellfish (QUAHOGS) Act. Northern quahogs, Rhode Island’s state clam, have been declining since the 1980s. Last year, a study commission recommended transplanting quahogs in Narragansett Bay and monitoring the clams. “Quahogging in Narragansett Bay is a quintessential Rhode Island trade whose harvest brings us the Ocean State summer staples of clear chowder and stuffies,” Whitehouse said in a statement.