Many beaches in Jefferson County and some in Clallam have been closed to recreational digging when state Department of Health officials found high levels of paralytic shellfish poison in regularly collected samples.
Familiarly known as “red tide,” paralytic shellfish poison is potentially life-threatening to people who eat shellfish containing the potent toxin, the Health Department said.
Cooking or freezing doesn’t destroy the toxin.
Commercial areas remain open and those products should remain safe to eat, according to officials at the Department of Health.
The recreational closure includes clams, geoducks, oysters, mussels, scallops and other species of mollusks. Crabs are not included in the closure.
Where it’s closed
Beaches and areas that are closed to recreational shellfishing include:
* All beaches in Discovery Bay.
* Point McCurdy east to Marrowstone Point on Marrowstone Island.
* Marrowstone Point south to Tala Point at the mouth of Ludlow Bay, including Fort Worden and Fort Flagler state parks, Port Townsend Bay, Oak Bay, Mats Mats Bay and Port Ludlow.
* Kulisut Harbor and Mystery Bay beaches are closed for gathering of butter clams, but other species can be collected.
* Sequim Bay in Clallam County is also closed to recreational shellfishing of all species.
Butter clams may be collected along the shores of the Strait of Juan de Fuca between Dungeness Bay and the Clallam-Jefferson county line.
* All recreational shellfishing is closed from Dungeness Bay west to Cape Flattery. Ocean beaches from Cape Flattery to the county line are in annual seasonal closures.
For more information, go to www.doh.wa.gov/ehp/sf/biotoxin.htm.
