Water Quality

Whatcom County’s booming dairy and agricultural industry has cost Lummi Nation shellfish harvesters millions of dollars already, and a recent closure of shellfish beds in Portage Bay is adding to the tally.

Manure from dairy cows is discharged either directly or indirectly into the Nooksack River, which flows into Portage Bay. In September, the tribe closed 335 acres of Portage Bay shellfish beds to harvest because of high fecal coliform levels that exceeded National Shellfish Sanitation Program standards. Continued poor water quality led to the closure of two additional areas in December, bringing the total to nearly 500 acres of shellfish beds that are unsafe to harvest. More areas may have to be closed in the coming months if conditions are not improved. (more…)

High levels of fecal coliform prompted the Lummi Nation to close 335 acres of Portage Bay shellfish beds in September.

The fecal coliform – mostly from livestock, human and pet waste originating upstream from the reservation – exceeds federal bacterial standards, meaning the shellfish could be unsafe to eat. The voluntary closure affects Lummi’s treaty-protected ceremonial, subsistence and commercial harvest.

“The reservation tidelands are deeply affected by activities along the Nooksack River, which flows into Portage Bay,” said Lummi harvest manager Ben Starkhouse.

Lummi shellfish harvesters lost an estimated $8 million in revenue from 1996 to 2006, when 180 acres of shellfish beds were closed for the same reason.

During that closure, more than $8 million was provided to the region’s dairy industry to stop the discharge of manure into the Nooksack River. But after the shellfish beds were reopened, federal and state assistance with inspections and monitoring was substantially reduced. (more…)