Shell fish

We rented kayaks and paddled up an estuary in the ocean. The sandy bottom was covered with thousands of shell fish, similar to our cherry stone clams. We could have collected them by the bucket full as they were lying on the top of the sand. We latter noticed lots of people wading out at low tide to collect them. All rocks, piers, etc were covered with nice oysters below the high tide mark. I asked a local about license requirements, closed seasons, etc. He said they were free for the taking by anyone year round!