The Washington Department of Health has extended its closure of recreational shellfish harvesting to all of the shores of Vashon-Maury Island.

Prior to August, all of the beaches on the eastern shores of the island and in Quartermaster Harbor were closed due to unsafe levels of paralytic shellfish poison — a neurotoxin that can sicken or even kill those who eat contaminated shellfish. On August 8, the state expanded that closure to the island’s west side, too, following unsafe poison levels recently collected from Colvos Passage. That means there is currently no safe beach from which to recreationally harvest shellfish on the island.

For updates on the closure, visit fortress.wa.gov/doh/biotoxin/biotoxin.html, or call the DOH biotoxin hotline at 1-800-562-5632.

The closure includes all

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