The scheduled start of recreational clam season was Oct. 9, but on Oct. 6, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) announced a postponing of the season until further notice due to the domoic acid levels found in razor clams.
On Tuesday, the WDFW approved four days of digging at Mocrocks and Copalis beaches.
In March, the article “Olympic Region Harmful Algal Bloom Partnership: Safeguarding lives and coastal traditions” featured the partnership, abbreviated to ORHAB, responsible for the testing of domoic acid levels that informs whether digs are a go or no go. But as with every environmental story, there are inevitably many angles in which to tell the story. Although ORHAB partnership began in the 1990s, domoic acid and its effects upon humans and wildlife after consuming shellfish high in this acid actually has a long, documented history in the Pacific Northwest and countries around the world. It’s this history that Aberdeen’s Alan Rammer incorporated in his presentations when he worked for WDFW as a marine community and environmental outreach specialist for 22 years.
In this position, Rammer spoke to schools, sports and community groups throughout Western Washington on issues related to harvesting shellfish, both on the coast and Puget Sound.
“I was a one-man cruise, so I traveled throughout Puget Sound, the Straits of Juan de Fuca, and along the coast down to the Columbia River,” Rammer said.
For his outreach efforts, he was named Marine Educator of the Year in 2012, the third Washingtonian to ever be named National Science Teacher, Marine Science Teacher.
Rammer moved to the Westport area in 1974 over 50 years ago.
“I quickly realized razor clams were like motherhood, apple pie, baseball, and Chevrolet,” he said. “It’s an inalienable right of the local citizens. They’ve grown up with it. It’s something part of their heritage, not only with the indigenous population, but with the non-indigenous population.
Rammer too learned to dig for razor clams. The shovel was his preferred method for digging; now, he reluctantly due to health reasons, has mastered using the clam tube.
Retired after working for the agency for 36 years, Rammer still enjoys wearing his outreach hat. Earlier in October, with the beach closures still fresh in many people’s minds, The Daily World spoke with Rammer, and what follows is our conversation edited for length and clarity.
The Daily World: How has our understanding of domoic acid and its effects upon wildlife and humans grown over the years?
Rammer: The first event was 1986 on Prince Edward Island, and it didn’t hit us until the fall of 1989, so it was very sudden. People were always aware of red tide because red tide is ubiquitous in the Puget Sound, the Straits and on the open coast.
In the fall of ’89, there was a limited razor clam dig on the Long Beach Peninsula, which was the only place open. People in South Bend and Raymond started getting sick, and the pelicans and the sea lions in California were dying.
The Department of Health was always sampling our clams throughout the season because they were looking for indicators of red tide. Back in the day, this was done by injecting red serum, in what’s called mouse units, from the clams into mice, and the mice would show certain attributes if it was red tide.
In the fall of ’89, the mice started acting completely different and the Department of Health realized they had something completely new on their hands, which they realized soon after was domoic acid.
While paralytic shellfish poisoning affects your ability to breathe, domoic acid, or amnesic shellfish poisoning, affects the front right lobe of your brain. And while new to us in 1989, in the fall of ‘87 on Prince Edward Island in Canada, people went to a seafood restaurant over a weekend, and the special was blue steamed mussels. When the weekend was over, everyone who had had the steamed mussels were either dead, seriously injured or in the hospital — all 206 people.
The Daily World: How does domoic acid affect people?
Rammer: This is something not to be taken lightly because if you get a light enough hit but not enough to kill you, it will fry the front right lobe of your brain — the front right lobe of your brain is where you learn new information, which is then later transferred to other parts of your brain.
I watched a film with a gentleman, a physics professor, who got a big enough hit from eating contaminated mussels to fry his brain, but it didn’t kill him. During the interview, they asked him questions about physics, which he remembered, but when they asked him new information, he couldn’t remember. For instance, one of his daughters had gotten married and they showed him pictures of a wedding party and he denied it. He said his daughter was not married and that was not his son-in-law.
It was very hard-hitting to realize that you can get sick and recover; you can die; and then there’s this inter-purgatory where you survive but you’ll never learn anything new again. We don’t want people dying.
The actionable level for domoic acid is 20 parts per million. Because it rises quickly, quite frequently, the Department of Health will cut it off at 15 ppm to be safe. Whereas red tide is 80 parts per million so domoic acid is four times more virulent or dangerous than red tide.
What’s most important to understand is most people will not be affected at 20 parts per million, that’s where the most compromised and immune compromised people in our community are going to be affected. The Department of Health and Fish and Wildlife have to act for the total populace.
The Daily World: Why can razor clams contain high levels of domoic acid?
Rammer: The razor clam is very unique because it has the ability to transfer the toxin out of its digestive system and into the flesh. One of the second most-asked question I get from people is that since we clean, gut and freeze them, why can’t we continue harvesting the razor clams? The domoic acid can’t be fried or cleaned or steamed or frozen out of the body. And some of the highest toxin levels have been found in the digger, which most people will fry and then use the other body part for clam chowder or patties.
It’s hard to wrap your mind around when something is so microscopic that you can’t visualize it or taste it or wash it away or something.
The Daily World: Of the public workshops that you held, are there moments that stand out for you?
Rammer: One of the things that was interesting is I got called everything in the world in the workshops, and I learned how to use four-letter words in all kinds of combinations. But I told them, ‘I’m the messenger; I’m just trying to protect you. I’m here to keep you safe.’
I wondered, because only the weakest people in our communities will be affected at 20 parts per million, if there was a possibility of members of the public signing waivers that said they received the information and they made the decision where they wanted to go. That’s where I learned you can’t litigate your right to sue.
My most contentious meetings were primarily in Long Beach. I would ask the people in the groups, which were large, if we could only take the life of one person in the group tonight to have a season would anyone volunteer? And I never, ever had one hand go up.
The Daily World: Once you explained that the presence of domoic acid isn’t new, what was the public’s reaction?
Rammer: They calm down immediately. It’s kind of nice to bring them over from an aggressive stature into a ‘Oh, I get it.’ Three times in the last week, I had people ask me, ‘Why are they doing this to us?’ After explaining what I shared earlier with you, they very calmly said, ‘Oh, we get it. We wish someone had told us earlier that it’s not a new phenomenon.’
Then they understand that possibly both agencies have our well-being in mind, and they’re not just trying to keep us away from our God-given right to harvest razor clams.
The bottom line for me is it’s not a conspiracy to keep you away from part of your heritage — it’s to keep you safe and sound.
