Razor clamming still on hold

There is still no future razor clam dates to be announced until domoic acid levels in razor clams drop below the action level.

"We have no projections of when that might be; however, we do know that in three of the four major domoic acid events that occurred in the fall (of)1991-92, 1997-98 and 2002-03, domoic acid levels in razor clams remained evaluated through the end of the season," according to WDFW Coastal Shellfish Manager Dan Ayres early Thursday morning. "We will continue to test every two weeks."

Listed below are the most recent marine toxin levels, as announced by the Washington Department of Health (WDOH).

According to Ayres, before a beach can be opened for the harvest of razor clams, WDOH protocol requires that all razor clam samples collected from that beach must test under the action level (20 ppm for domoic acid; 80 µg/100g for PSP; and 16 µg/100g for DSP) on both of two required sample collections, that must be spaced 7 to 10 days apart.

"The story remains the same, razor clams are following the historical pattern of slowly depurating (losing) domoic acid," Ayres said. "We also are observing the levels 'bounce around' considerably, as they have in past events. This is a result of the individual 12 clams we harvest when we are collecting samples. The toxin 'load' can vary greatly between individual clams. The laboratory protocol requires the clams to be cleaned and then the meat from all 12 (per area) are blended together. Then a sample of that mixture is analyzed and one result is reported for that area."

Note that in all these samples; only razor clam meat tissue is tested.

These samples were all collected last Monday (Feb. 8):

Long Beach Area E (north):

• domoic acid = 56 ppm
• PSP = none detected
• DSP = none detected

Twin Harbors Area CL (middle):

• domoic acid = 49 ppm
• PSP = none detected
• DSP = none detected

Copalis Area K (south)

• domoic acid = 50 ppm
• PSP = none detected
• DSP = none detected

Copalis Area XL (middle)

• domoic acid = 28 ppm
• PSP = none detected
• DSP = none detected

Copalis Area GS (north)

• domoic acid = 23 ppm
• PSP = none detected
• DSP = none detected

Mocrocks Area CP (middle)

• domoic acid = 19 ppm
• PSP = none detected
• DSP = none detected

Mocrocks Area MP (north)

• domoic acid = 34 ppm
• PSP = none detected
• DSP = none detected