State health officials say an unprecedented outbreak of a marine toxin found in mussels off Marrowstone Island is on the decline, but they’re keeping shellfish harvesting closed in most of the waters in north Jefferson County.
The closure extends from Cape George east to Marrowstone Island at Marrowstone Point and south to Liplip Point including Port Townsend Bay, Kilisut Harbor, Mystery Bay and Oak Bay south to Mats Mats Bay for all species of shellfish.
In Clallam County, Sequim Bay is closed, along with all beaches from Dungeness Bay to Cape Flattery and south of Cape Flattery to the county line because of paralytic shellfish poisoning, not the same toxin found in the Jefferson County waters.
An up-to-date closure listing is available on the Internet at www.doh.wa.gov/gis/biotoxin.htm.
The toxin, domoic acid, has never been detected in on the interior waters of the state including Puget Sound, state Department of Health Biotoxin Coordinator Frank Cox said Friday from Olympia.
——————–
The rest of the story appears in Sunday’s Peninsula Daily News.