Hakai Magazine has a great article out today: "Toxic Algae has turned the Alaska shellfish harvest into a high-stakes gamble.'

https://www.hakaimagazine.com/features/shell-game/?utm_source=Hakai+Magazine+Weekly&utm_campaign=680b0191e0-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_09_06_COPY_02&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_0fc1967411-680b0191e0-121607449

Great timing. Just cleaned and cooked 4 gallons of mussels.


Not dead yet so... I will keep ya informed.

Thanks Ted, that was a good article. I've harvested and eaten a lot of clams from the west side of cook inlet and never had a bad experience... But I also didn't know a bunch of that stuff in that article.
The best tides are in the winter anyways, so I guess that helps.
I think you can also check with the commercial guys at Polly Creek if they're hot or not, because they get their catch tested.

I don’t know how you guys do it. And I haven’t fooled with them in a long time. But when I moved here, a mentor taught me to put them in a bucket with ocean water. Leave them in it for 2-3 days and change the water 2 times a day with new ocean water. I tell ya we ate gallons of steamers and I don’t believe I’ve heard of a single local person suffering from PSP.

Thanks for your note bgflyer. I sent your seemingly good suggestion off to the original publication to see if the author can check on this approach. I'll post if I hear anything back.

Makes me wonder about restaurants in Alaska who advertise, "Fresh clams" and such. I wonder what they do, if anything?

Ted

tedwaltman wrote:Thanks for your note bgflyer. I sent your seemingly good suggestion off to the original publication to see if the author can check on this approach. I'll post if I hear anything back.

Makes me wonder about restaurants in Alaska who advertise, "Fresh clams" and such. I wonder what they do, if anything?

Ted

The ones purchased commercially and served in restaurants are required by the DEC to be tested. I’m not sure what the schedule is. Serving paying folks sport harvested of any sort is agin’ the law here.

The only PSP we hear of much comes when folks eat the innards of Dungeness Crab. Never been my cup of tea but some swear the “crab butter” is the bomb.