BANGOR, Maine — A portion of the Down East coast has been reopened to shellfish harvesting after levels of a toxin that can causes amnesic shellfish poisoning were determined to have declined.
Jeff Nichols, a spokesman for the Maine Department of Marine Resources, said some of the tidal areas between between Calais and Cutler, and part of the shoreline between Isle Au Haut to Winter Harbor are now open for harvesting clams, mussels and carnivorous snails.
It’s the first time the state has issued a recall or closure because of this particular biotoxin, which occurs naturally in the wild. High levels of the acid can cause amnesic shellfish poisoning, which in humans can cause gastrointestinal distress and neurological problems, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
The state regularly tests shellfish harvest areas along the coast for naturally occurring toxins also known as “red tide” that can cause ASP or paralytic shellfish poisoning from wild-grown bivalve shellfish species such as mussels, clams, oysters, quahogs, snails and whelks.
Poisoning from red tide outbreaks are considered rare in Maine, where the most recent widely publicized case occurred in 2007.
Nichols said the department’s scientists still are trying to determine why the toxin levels vary along the state’s shoreline.
“You know, it’s all the first time we’ve experienced it this year, so we’re looking into that and we don’t have anything specific that we can point to that tells us why the toxin that has been detected at lower levels in Maine waters for decades has suddenly gone up.”
Maine’s soft-shell clam industry was valued last year at more than $22 million.
This article appears through a media partnership with Maine Public. Nick McCrea of the Bangor Daily News contributed to this report.