Nearly 50 miles of North Olympic Peninsula coastline have been opened to spring and summer shellfish harvesting.
Levels of natural biotoxins that lead to Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning, or PSP, have reduced to a safe level between Low Point at the mouth of the Lyre River, and Cape Flattery, the northwestern-most point of the North Olympic Peninsula.
All species of shellfish are safe to be harvested between those two points this spring and summer, the state Department of Health announced Friday.
The biotoxins that cause PSP are “pretty endemic” in the Puget Sound and Strait of Juan de Fuca, said Bill Cleland, a shellfish closure manager at the state Department of Health.
PSP caused beaches to be closed to shellfish harvesting starting in the 1940s, he said.
An effort to monitor and track shellfish contamination starting about five years ago led to some beaches occasionally or seasonally opening, he said.
The level of biotoxins is typically at a high between April and October, and most beaches are seasonally closed during that time, he said.
Other beaches in Clallam and Jefferson County remain closed, or under a limited harvest.
Closure maps are available on the state Department of Health’s Web site at www.doh.wa.gov., or descriptions are available by phoning the state’s marine biotoxin hot line at 1-800-562-5632.
