La Conner Weekly News - Your independent hometown award-winning newspaper

Unsafe levels of paralytic shellfish poisoning toxins have prompted the Washington Department of Health to close all beaches in Skagit County to recreational harvesting of all species of shellfish.

This includes clams, geoduck, oysters, mussels, scallops and other invertebrates such as the moon snail. Crab meat is not affected, but “crab butter” and crab entrails can harbor biotoxins and should be discarded during PSP advisories. PSP and other naturally occurring biotoxins are not destroyed by cooking or freezing. Algae that contain the toxins cannot be seen and must be detected by labo...