Severe red tide halts shoreline shellfish harvest

OLYMPIA – The worst red tide in perhaps a decade has shut down shellfish beds all along Puget Sound and prompted serious public health worries, state officials said Wednesday.

Expanded beach closures have not reached the heart of the state’s large farmed shellfish industry, and the state said commercial shellfish on the market have been tested and should be safe to eat.

But industry officials worried that more bad news could further damage businesses already reeling from a separate bacterial outbreak.

The state Health Department said the newest round of beach closures means the entire shoreline from Everett south to the Nisqually River just north of Olympia is off-limits for shellfish harvesting.

The eastern Kitsap Peninsula also has been affected, along with areas near Port Gamble, Port Ludlow and along the Strait of Juan de Fuca, said Frank Cox, a Health Department marine biotoxin coordinator.

Scientists were particularly worried by very high levels of the toxic organisms called Alexandrium, which produce powerful neurotoxins that cause paralytic shellfish poisoning in humans.