<html>
<head>
<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=us-ascii">
<meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 10 (filtered)">
<style>
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:Verdana;
panose-1:2 11 6 4 3 5 4 4 2 4;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";}
h1
{margin-right:0in;
margin-left:0in;
font-size:24.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
font-weight:bold;}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{color:purple;
text-decoration:underline;}
p
{margin-right:0in;
margin-left:0in;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";}
span.EmailStyle17
{font-family:Arial;
color:windowtext;}
p.pgtime, li.pgtime, div.pgtime
{margin-right:0in;
margin-left:0in;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";}
p.note, li.note, div.note
{margin-right:0in;
margin-left:0in;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";}
p.label, li.label, div.label
{margin-right:0in;
margin-left:0in;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";}
p.byline, li.byline, div.byline
{margin-right:0in;
margin-left:0in;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";}
p.source, li.source, div.source
{margin-right:0in;
margin-left:0in;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";}
@page Section1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in;}
div.Section1
{page:Section1;}
-->
</style>
</head>
<body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple>
<div class=Section1>
<p class=pgtime><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Thursday, August 24, 2006</span></font> - </p>
<h1><b><font size=6 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:24.0pt'>Closure
of area shellfish beds prompts worries over health</span></font></b></h1>
<p class=byline><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>By Curt Woodward</span></font></p>
<p class=source><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>The Associated Press</span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><!-- start photo --><!-- end photo -->OLYMPIA
— The worst red tide in perhaps a decade has shut down shellfish beds all
along Puget Sound and prompted serious public-health worries, state officials
said Wednesday.</span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Expanded
beach closures have not reached the heart of </span></font>Washington state's
large farmed-shellfish industry, and the state said commercial shellfish on the
market have been tested and should be safe to eat.</p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>But
industry officials worried that more bad news could further damage businesses already
reeling from a separate bacterial outbreak.</span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The state
Health Department said the newest round of closures means virtually the entire
shoreline from </span></font>Everett south to the Nisqually River just north of
Olympia is off-limits for shellfish harvesting.</p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The
eastern </span></font>Kitsap Peninsula also has been affected, along with areas
near Port Gamble, Port Ludlow and along the Strait of Juan de Fuca, said Frank
Cox, a Health Department marine-biotoxin coordinator.</p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>"I
don't think we've ever had anything quite to this scale," Cox said
Wednesday. "I'm concerned if people ignore these warnings, we could wind
up with people with illness, if not worse."</span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Scientists
were particularly worried by high levels of the toxic organisms called Alexandrium,
which produce powerful neurotoxins that cause paralytic shellfish poisoning in
humans. Those organisms are present in blooms of algae that thrive in warm,
calm summer weather.</span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Paralytic
shellfish poisoning can be fatal, but </span></font>Washington state hasn't
recorded a death since three people were killed in 1942. The latest serious
illnesses were recorded in 2000, when several people were sickened — some
even paralyzed — after eating contaminated shellfish near Gig Harbor, Cox
said.</p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Cooking
does not eliminate the toxins, and people should be extremely careful when
harvesting shellfish on public or private tidelands, officials said.</span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The large
bloom of toxic algae also was worrisome for the state's shellfish farmers, who
battled a recall of raw oysters last month after a separate outbreak of
vibriosis, a bacterial illness.</span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Shelton</span></font>,
Mason County-based Taylor Shellfish, the West Coast's largest farmed-shellfish
producer, lost about $150,000 a week in live-oyster sales because of the
bacterial outbreak, spokesman Bill Dewey said.</p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>"It'd
be a shame if we just got relief from the vibrio to get shut down for red
tide," Dewey said.</span></font></p>
<p class=label><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Copyright
© 2006 The Seattle Times Company</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'>To check the latest shellfish harvesting closures anywhere
in the state visit the marine biotoxin Web site at <a
href="http://www.doh.wa.gov/ehp/sf/biotoxin.htm">www.doh.wa.gov/ehp/sf/biotoxin.htm</a></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'> or call the Department of Health Biotoxin Hotline at
1-800-562-5632.</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Arial'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>++++++++++++++++++++++++++</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>J.E. </span></font><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>Jack Rensel</span></font><font
size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'> Ph.D.</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Rensel Associates Aquatic Sciences</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>4209 234th Street N.E.</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Arlington</span></font><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'> </span></font><font size=2
face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>Wa</span></font><font
size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'> </span></font><font
size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>98223</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><a href="mailto:jackrensel@att.net">jackrensel@att.net</a></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>360-435-3285</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Cell 360-631-6538</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'> </span></font></p>
</div>
</body>
</html>