Last of washed-up oysters are moved

SEABECK, Kitsap County — About 35 volunteers turned out Monday to move oysters at Scenic Beach State Park, completing the work that 65 other volunteers started on Friday.

The oysters washed up high on the beach on Aug. 11 — about the time a Navy ship, the USS Port Royal, was operating in Hood Canal. Hundreds of thousands of them were barely surviving on the few sips of water they got each day at high tide.

Navy officials are investigating to determine whether the ship was to blame. Shellfish biologists familiar with Hood Canal say they have never seen a storm move oysters in such an extreme pattern.

Shellfish biologists with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife plan to conduct a new oyster survey at Scenic Beach, according to Alex Bradbury, of Point Whitney Shellfish Laboratory.

The survey will be used to determine the length of next spring's oyster season at the state park. A previous survey conducted in June probably is no longer accurate because of the wash-up event, Bradbury said.

Meanwhile, a shellfish biologist with the Washington Department of Natural Resources plans to check a state beach on Dabob Bay, Jefferson County, on Tuesday, according to DNR spokeswoman Jane Chavey.

A shellfish grower who wants to lease the beach on Zelatched Point reported a similar oyster wash-up there. Dabob Bay is the site of a Navy testing range where the Port Royal was operating on Aug. 11 and 12.