Shellfish, Oakland Bay

Shellfish are prized resources of the Pacific Northwest . The cool, clean waters of the Puget Sound provide some of
the finest shellfish habitat in the world. Washington State is the nation’s leading producer of farmed bivalve shellfish (oysters, clams, mussels, geoduck) with annual sales of approximately $100 million and major contributions from
Puget Sound shellfish farms.  

Additional significant revenues are generated from recreational shellfish harvesting and the state’s commercial geoduck fishery.

What’s the problem?

Puget Sound provides an estimated 165,000 acres of shoreline for shellfish harvest, according to the Washington Department of Health. Of that total, Health has classified about 28,000 acres—approximately 17 percent—as restricted or prohibited for commercial and recreational harvest.

Pollution from a variety of sources, mainly sewage pollution, threatens the shoreline areas where oysters, clams and other bivalve shellfish grow.  

Resource managers are focusing significant attention on controlling the sources of pollution to keep the region’s shellfish growing areas clean and open for recreational, commercial and tribal harvesting.

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What are the key threats to shellfish habitat?

The region’s large and fast-growing population poses a significant challenge to keeping our shoreline waters clean and preserving shellfish-harvest opportunities across the region.

In addition to and partly as a result of population growth, the following are the primary sources of pollution threatening shellfish growing areas:  

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What’s being done?

For two decades, the Puget Sound Partnership, local and state governments, tribes, growers and citizen groups have made great progress in protecting and restoring water quality for shellfish harvesting. This work must continue to ensure the resource remains healthy.

Puget Sound Partnership. Puget Sound Partnership staff serve in a coordinating role and provide a comprehensive vision and strategy for shellfish protection in Puget Sound . The driving forces behind this work are:

The Partnership emphasizes pollution prevention and land use planning as vital strategies for lasting protection of shellfish growing areas. In 2006, the Partnership completed initial work on a project assessing the effects of urbanization on shellfish growing areas. The research and recommendations reinforce the need to control and prevent sewage pollution on all fronts and to preserve healthy watersheds that are essential for naturally safeguarding clean water for shellfish harvesting.   

Washington Department of Health. The Washington Department of Health monitors and classifies commercial and recreational shellfish areas, assists with shellfish restoration projects, oversees the early warning system to identify emerging pollution problems in shellfish areas, and manages the state onsite sewage program.

Washington Department of Ecology. The Department of Ecology oversees a number of programs to protect and restore water quality in shellfish areas, including those related to: Other state agencies. Other state agencies working on shellfish issues include the departments of: Local and tribal governments. Local and tribal governments also play central roles carrying out pollution-control and land-use plans and programs. These include local shoreline, sewage, stormwater and growth management plans that generally spell the difference for clean water and the classification of shellfish growing areas around the Sound.

The Pacific Coast Shellfish Growers Association. works on behalf of shellfish growers on a broad spectrum of issues, including environmental protection, shellfish safety, regulations, technology, and marketing.

Restoring native oysters. Olympia oysters were once a mainstay of Pacific Northwest tribes. First imperiled by over-harvesting in the late 1800s and early 1900s and soon after by pollution and competition from other oyster species, native Olympia stocks suffered from neglect. Since 1999, the Puget Sound Restoration Fund, along with tribes, agencies and non-governmental organizations, has been working to re-establish Olympias in key areas around the Sound.

>> Learn more / get resources on shellfish in Puget Sound

For more information about the Puget Sound Partnership’s work with protecting shellfish habitat, contact info@psp.wa.gov.

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