The Washington State Department of Health closed recreational harvest of molluscan shellfish in the entire county on Friday, May 24 after detecting unsafe levels of biotoxin in Drayton Harbor and Bellingham Bay.
Paralytic shellfish poisoning from elevated biotoxin levels can cause severe illness and death, sometimes in less than 30 minutes, according to a health department press release. Molluscan shellfish include clams, mussels, oysters and scallops. Cooking or freezing does not destroy biotoxins.
Crab meat is not impacted by biotoxins but crab “butter” and entrails are and should be discarded, the health department release said.
A previous version of this story misstated the entity that made the decision to close the harvest; it was the Washington State Department of Health that made the decision. The story was updated to reflect this change on Tuesday, May 28 at 3:05 p.m. Cascadia Daily News regrets the error.
Charlotte Alden is CDN’s general assignment/enterprise reporter; reach her at charlottealden@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 123.
