Park's shellfish harvest will be halted Saturday because of toxins

By Jeffrey P. Mayor | The News Tribune • Published November 05, 2008

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The Olympic National Park Pacific coast is closed to the harvest of all shellfish starting Saturday because of the presence of Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning toxins in shellfish.

The park's 73-mile coastline had been scheduled to open for shellfish harvest beginning Saturday, but the opening was delayed until further notice.

This closure applies only to the park's coastline. Toxin levels on the southern Washington coastline have been lower than within the park.

The situation and PSP levels at beaches south of the park are being monitored by the state Department of Health and the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.

"We will certainly be testing razor clams for both domoic acid and PSP," said Dan Ayres, coastal shellfish manager for the Department of Fish and Wildlife.

"Razor clams don't seem to accumulate PSP as much as they do domoic acid. However, there have been razor clam closures due to PSP," Ayres said.

The last razor clams closure due to PSP was at Twin Harbors and Long Beach in 1992, he said.

The next scheduled razor clam dig is scheduled to take place Nov. 13-16 at Copalis and Mocrocks, as well as Nov. 14-16 at Long Beach and Twin Harbors.

"Human safety is the most important consideration, and after consulting with the Washington State Department of Health, we have enacted this closure," park superintendent Karen Gustin said in a news release. "We will continue to monitor PSP levels along the coast, and will reopen shellfish harvest when it is safe to do so."

Shellfish species affected by this closure include hardshell clams (butter, cockles, horse, littleneck, manila), mussels, gooseneck barnacles, Dungeness crab and red rock crab. Razor clam harvest at Kalaloch already is closed to allow the small clams there an opportunity to grow to a harvestable size.

PSP is produced by a natural marine alga. Often present during the summer months, it is usually absent during fall and winter. However, on Sept. 30, PSP levels within the park were five times the human health threshold established by the health department, the release said. PSP samples from Second Beach on Oct. 21 also were above the human health threshold.

Commercial shellfish operations on the southern Washington coast undergo human health testing and have not been affected by the current PSP outbreak.