State officials say recreational razor clam harvesting is now closed from the Columbia River to the California border.
The Oregon Departments of Agriculture and Fish and Wildlife made the announcement today. They say samples of razor clams showed excessive levels of the marine biotoxin, domoic acid.
Troy Buell is state fishery management program leader. He says the levels so far don’t appear to be the same for Dungeness crab.
“So we’re hopeful that we won’t see that work its way into the crab population but we will be continuing to test the areas of concern as we get closer to the season opening, and even into the season if we feel we need to, in partnership with the Oregon Department of Agriculture.”
The commercial Dungeness crab season has been delayed until at least December 16th. But Buell says that’s because of low meat yields found in sampled crab.
State officials say people should not eat any razor clams dug from the affected area on or since November 16th.
Copyright 2020, KLCC.
