Puget Sound Restoration Fund

The Washington State Department of Health has a Biotoxin Program that performs year-round monitoring of Paralytic Shellfish Poison (PSP, also known as "red tide"), and Amnesic Shellfish Poison (ASP, or domoic acid) in molluscan shellfish.

Puget Sound Restoration Fund assists the Washington State Department of Health in the collection of shellfish samples around Puget Sound. Managing volunteers from 20 distinct sampling sites, PSRF ensures samples from each site arrive in Shoreline at the WA DOH State Lab in a timely fashion. Samples are processed quickly and results are immediately used to update harvest openings and closures.

If you intend to harvest shellfish from any beach - public or private- you should check with the WA DOH hotline 1-800-562-5632. You can also look on their website for beach closure information: http://ww4.doh.wa.gov/scripts/esrimap.dll?name=bioview&Cmd=Map&Step=1 Both the hotline and the website are updated as soon as results are available.

For more information regarding biotoxins use the following site: http://www.doh.wa.gov/ehp/sf/BiotoxinProgram.htm

For ongoing research, look at http://www.cop.noaa.gov/stressors/extremeevents/hab/current/fact-merhab.html

If you have an interest in volunteering to sample shellfish at one of our sites, please contact Morgan Rohrbach at morgan@restorationfund.org or 206.780-6947

Shellfish samples collected in numerous areas around Puget Sound showed record high levels of PSP in 2006. As we headed into 2007, harvest areas were closed for the first time ever with winter sport closures in both January and February. This did not bode well for the upcoming 2007 season. However, to our surprise, this past year PSP levels did not follow the pattern of increasing incidence that we anticipated. In fact, Jerry Borchert with the Washington Department of Health said that 2007 showed "the least amount of toxins he has seen in many years," representing the total opposite of record PSP levels set in 2006.

So, what happened? That's what researchers would like to know. HAB's, or Harmful algae blooms, are occurring more frequently and for longer duration on a global scale. This has a huge impact on local economies, since commercial growers cannot harvest their product during periods of harmful algal blooms. Researchers from all over are beginning to put their heads together to figure out early detection systems and understand what triggers these blooms to come and go. Meanwhile, we can hope for another quiet season for PSP in 2008 and a big season for clam diggers around the Sound.

Thanks to our PSP volunteers and to state and local health departments for supporting ongoing sample collection.

Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning, or "PSP"

"Red Tide" is the layman's term for PSP, or Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning. I've heard that back in the old days seafaring folks would carry a cat on board their vessel so they could feed them a sample of their shellfish catch. If the cat survived, the shellfish was on the table for dinner.

Today we have a much more sophisticated method of determining which shellfish are safe to eat and which are not (lucky for our feline friends). You pick up your cell phone and dial 1-800-562-5632. You patiently listen to DOH's recorded message of beach closures, crossing your fingers that your favorite digging beach is still open for harvest.

If you had called in August 2006, hoping to dig just about anywhere you would have been out of luck. In 2006 Puget Sound experienced some of the highest levels of PSP in recorded history (20 years). The Washington Department of Health's Shellfish Program samples clams and mussels all over Puget Sound, all year round. When the samples reach 80 micrograms, shellfish areas are closed for harvest. In August many samples came in at 1000 micrograms, with one site as high as 13,000!

Why are levels so high? Scientists don't know for sure but they are trying to figure it out. This is what they do know.PSP in Washington is caused by phytoplankton known as Alexandrium catanella (see photo on right) This phytoplankton often blooms alongside other algae and plankton. Therefore, when you see the water is red, you know there is a bloom of some sort going on, but not necessarily Alexandrium. Conversely, if the water is clear, it does not mean that shellfish are safe to eat. After a bloom passes it takes several weeks for most shellfish to excrete all remains of the biotoxin. The butter clam in particular takes months to reach a safe consumption status - lucky for them, but no good for someone hoping to make chowder.

Scientists at Wood's Hole Oceanographic Institute teamed up with the DOH last summer. They are hoping to learn more about the Alexandrium species. Specifically they are looking at how levels of A. catanella in the water column are associated with levels of toxicity in shellfish. Perhaps one day not too far away, scientists will be able to use water samples as an early detection method for PSP blooms.

In the meantime I recommend carrying your neighbor's cat to the beach with you - or at least your cell phone.

Cattle Point