A planned razor clam dig at Twin Harbors this week has been canceled after test results showed elevated levels of domoic acid, said Dan Ayres, state Department of Fish & Wildlife coastal shellfish manager.
“Unfortunately, toxin levels spiked again at Twin Harbors, prompting us to cancel this opening there,” Ayres said. “We’ll continue to monitor toxin levels at all our ocean beaches and hope to offer some digging dates for Twin Harbors and Long Beach as soon as clams are safe to eat.”
This leaves only Mocrocks and Copalis beaches in the weekend mix. The previously planned dig at Kalaloch remains closed due to a low abundance of clams.
The dig dates, tides and beaches open for razor clam digging are:
March 24, Friday, 5:01 p.m.; 0.5 feet; Mocrocks
March 25, Saturday, 5:44 p.m.; 0.2 feet; Copalis
March 26, Sunday, 6:24 p.m.; 0.0 feet; Mocrocks
No digging is allowed on open beaches before noon. The best digging typically occurs one to two hours before low tide, Ayres said.
Ayres added there is a four day dig tentatively scheduled for morning tides that alternates open days between Mocrocks and Copalis beginning March 30. Final approval of that dig depends on the results of an upcoming toxin test.
Why the sharp decline in adult razor clam populations at Kalaloch? Ayres said that is a question we may never know the answer to. In the meantime, tentatively scheduled digs at Kalaloch have been canceled.
“Our crews made it to Kalaloch Thursday evening just ahead of the wind storm, and using our stock assessment equipment we were able to get a good look at a portion of Kalaloch where last summer we had recorded very dense populations of razor clams,” said Ayres. “Given our recent trips to Kalaloch to try and collect clams for Department of Health samples, the results unfortunately were not surprising. We found very few adult clams, just a total of six.”
There is some good news out of Long Beach.
“The last Long Beach razor clam samples collected March 11 showed all areas in single digits, with a high of nine parts per million (domoic acid),” said Ayres.
There are four shellfish test areas at Long Beach: Area A near Cranberry Beach Road; Area XA near Klipsan Beach Road; Area OY near Oysterville Beach Road; and area E at Leadbetter Point. The Oysterville reading was highest at nine, the other beaches were five to seven parts per million for the toxin, well below the 20 parts per million considered dangerous for human consumption.
“This is the first time we’ve had any samples in the single digits, much less all four,” said Ayres. “We will collect again March 26 — we need to wait for the next good tide that is at least seven days out from the last sample — and if they are all below 20 parts per million we’ll open Long Beach ASAP.”
