You won’t dig this news: The start of Washington razor clam season this Friday has been put on hold because pre-dig marine toxin test results are “trending upward or have exceeded the health guidelines.”
“A domoic acid toxin bloom is working its way up the coast with rapidly elevated and closure level samples on Long Beach, Twin Harbors, and Clatsop Beach in northwestern Oregon,” said Bryce Blumenthal, a WDFW coastal shellfish biologist, in an agency press release out early this afternoon.
“Those conditions are now beginning to break through north of Grays Harbor Bay, so we are acting out of an abundance of caution and putting a pause on opening all beaches. We will work closely with DOH and hopefully will be able to open beaches sometime down the road,” he added.
The news follows on last Friday’s sudden razor clam closure on all Oregon beaches, including the popular Clatsop Beaches on the North Coast, where the season had just begun the day before.
Both states consider domoic acid levels of 20 parts per million or greater to be unsafe for eating. Domoic acid is “a natural toxin that certain marine algae produce” but that “can be harmful or fatal if consumed in sufficient quantities.”
WDFW data shows that domoic acid levels at Long Beach spiked to 26 ppm as of September 30, up from 5 ppm on September 11.
To the north at Twin Harbors, they’ve risen from 3 ppm to 18 ppm, while those at Copalis are at 9.0 ppm as of Monday. Mocrocks tested at 8 ppm yesterday as well.
On the Oregon Coast, domoic acid testing on the Clatsop Beaches and Sunset Beach on October 2 showed 44 ppm, while testing in mid-September at Gold Beach showed 280 ppm.
WDFW says they will continue sampling razor clams to keep tabs on the situation and announce openers when testing shows the shellfish are safe for harvest. Sampling occurs twice before a given opener, and the results must be below the safety level for it to proceed.
A total of 40 digging days had been scheduled on the Washington Coast through the end of the year.
Oregon beaches are open every day, except on the North Coast, where there is a July 15-September 30 conservation closure.
