The president of the Maine Clammers Association, who has said that enforcement is not a significant need in Freeport’s shellfish program, has been charged with harvesting undersized clams.

Police Chief Gerald Schofield said that Chad Coffin of Litchfield Road, Freeport, was harvesting quahogs off Wolfe’s Neck State Park at approximately 12:45 p.m. Sunday when Tom Kay, the town’s shellfish warden, summonsed him.

Coffin has led the charge for a shellfish coordinator who would concentrate on resource protection, and has said publicly that Kay’s position, which is mostly about enforcement, is no longer required.

Schofield said that Coffin allows clammers a little leeway in taking a few undersized clams, which have a legal minimum length of 2 inches. But there is no leeway for the quahog variety, the chief said.

“The legal size to keep a quahogs is 1 inch,” Schofield said. “However, they are not measured end to

end like a soft-shell clam. They are basically measured at the hinged area (kind of

sideways. According to Kay, the state law pertaining to quahogs does not allow any tolerances. Neither Tom nor I know their rationale for that.”

Schofield said that the incident between Coffin and Kay was uneventful and cordial, according to Kay.

This is the second time that Kay has charged Coffin on the clam flats. Kay summonsed him in September 2010 for harvesting short clams, Schofield said. The case did not go to court, Schofield said.