State and tribal officials have closed a 135-acre geoduck-harvesting area outside Federal Way until they can fully investigate the toxicity levels that caused China to ban shellfish imported from the West Coast.
“We know this has been a hardship on our state’s shellfish industry, and we will work diligently to find resolution as quickly as possible,” Commissioner of Public Lands Peter Goldmark said Friday. “While state and federal testing results to date have not raised any health concerns, we take these steps out of an abundance of caution.”
State officials learned Wednesday that arsenic was the toxin Chinese authorities detected in a shipment of geoduck clams from Washington’s Poverty Bay. That shipment, along with one from Ketchikan, Alaska, led China on Dec. 3 to ban all imports of shellfish harvested in Washington, Alaska, Oregon and Northern California.
Previously, officials had believed China was attributing the problem in the Washington geoducks to the toxin that causes paralytic shellfish poisoning. But on Wednesday, the state Department of Health learned the shipment from Washington was a concern because of arsenic, while the issue with the Alaska shipment was PSP.