Butter Clams Finally OK!

Good news - the butter clams at Diamond Point are finally safe to eat! The problem has been that the butter clam (Saxidomas) hangs on to the toxins from the algae, Alexandrium for over a year. Those tricky butter clams actually do this for a reason; by holding onto the toxin, they discourage predators from eating them. Their cousins, the Native Littlenecks, and Manillas (Steamer clams) clear out the toxins much sooner - about three months - depending on the toxin dosage they received from the algae.

The problem at Diamond Point has been that just about the time the butter clams were about to become safe, another algae bloom came along and re-dosed the clams. Alexandrium may bloom from June through September. You won't see these toxic 'red-tide' events by just looking at the water color. Toxicity is dependent upon the strain of the species of algae, and the conditions that strain is growing under. These confounding details have been frustrating to sort out by all of us in the Harmful Algal Bloom scientific community.

Many of you who live on the Discovery Bay side of the point should be thinking, "But I saw a Red Tide last summer!" Yes, you did. That red tide is tomato soup colored and is one of my favorite annual bloom events. It is caused by this HUGE dinoflagellate cell called Noctiluca. It is not toxic, and it is a major predator of just about all plankton. Noctiluca grows up at the end of an algal bloom (usually August) and eats up anything it can get to. Noctiluca blooms have been here a long time; Captain Vancouver noted a Noctiluca red tide event when he was anchored in Discovery Bay.

What is certain is that the toxin levels measured by the State Marine Biotoxin Lab are very reliable, and they do a great job testing the seafood for safety. If it says don't eat it - there is no reason to flirt with this toxin that will paralyze you and stop your breathing. If you do notice symptoms (tingling, numbness, and burning of the lips, ataxia, giddiness, drowsiness, fever, rash, and staggering) get to the hospital so they can give you respiratory support and you should recover.

If you look closely at the north shore line, you will notice it is orange, not green. In this case it means that the state lab did not do a test for bacterial contamination like they did in the other regions.

I recommend you look carefully at the state website before digging to look for updates. For instance, Sequim Bay's butter clams are still not safe to eat. The link is at right.

Happy Clam Digging! Oh, one more thing, the areas with no line are private tidelands and the state does not test. You may not dig on those beaches without the owner's permission. As the caretaker for the Thompson Spit land, please do not dig there. There are barely any clams to be had, and it is awful digging anyways. I am hoping that if we all don't harvest there, the population levels will increase to the decent levels I remember as a little girl.