The Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe says it has always
farmed oysters on western Washington’s Dungeness Bay. But not any
more.
The state health department banned the
harvest of shellfish in certain areas of the bay last May, because
water-quality tests showed excess levels of fecal coliform
bacteria. While fecal coliform isn’t a health hazard by itself,
it’s an indicator that disease-forming bacteria are in the water.
Oysters, mussels and clams are at a higher risk of contamination
than shrimp and crab because they filter water as they feed.
No one knows for certain what caused the
increase in fecal coliform, but Bob Woolrich of the Clallam County
Health Department says that more people living and working in the
watershed might be to blame. County population has grown by nearly
17,000 in the last 20 years.
Since the bay
closure, the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe has been working to find the
sources of the pollution and possible solutions to the bay’s
contamination. Ann Seiter, director of Natural Resources for the
tribe, says a few small sources, such as cattle grazing next to a
stream and small sewer-system leaks, have been identified as having
a cumulative effect. Unfortunately, she adds, “It’s not as simple
as finding someone’s pipe and turning it off.”
* Kayley Mendenhall
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Something is polluting the water.
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