Oregon’s North Coast Now Closed For Razor Clamming

The bad news for Northwest razor clammers continues during what was expected to be a great season as Oregon’s best beaches for digging the tasty shellfish are now closed.

ODFW and state authorities say that recent testing shows razor clams on the North Coast are now above the cutoff limit for domoic acid, a marine toxin.

The announcement follows last week’s closure of the Central Coast from Cascade Head near Lincoln City south to the mouth of the Siuslaw River. It all means that Oregon clamming is on pause from the mouth of the Columbia to Florence.

High toxin levels are the same reason that Washington’s Long Beach was shut down last week, and which also prompted the closure of other Evergreen State sands further north to prevent overcrowding during the pandemic.

This fall was primed to provide strong digging up and down the Northwest Coast, with ODFW reporting “high” numbers and “large” clams on Clatsop County beaches – where 95 percent of Oregon’s razors are dug – and WDFW forecasting a “spectacular year” based on staggering surveys at Long Beach and elsewhere.

State managers will reopen clamming after two consecutive tests show that toxin levels are back below the cutoff point, 20 parts per million for domoic acid.

Long Beach was at 29 ppm on Oct. 22.

While razor clams are fewer and further between on Oregon’s South Coast, digging remains opens from the south jetty of the Siuslaw to California.

And mussels, bay clams and crabs are also open across the entire coast.

For updates watch the Oregon Department of Agriculture’s shellfish monitoring page.