BREMERTON — The Kitsap County Health District has removed its Paralytic Shellfish Poison advisory from Liberty Bay, as well as Dyes Inlet. According to a health district press release, recent PSP monitoring results show levels have dropped below the Washington State Department of Health’s closure threshold in the two areas.

PSP closures are still in place for Miller Bay and Port Madison Bay for all species of clams, oysters and mussels. The remaining areas along the eastern side of Kitsap County are also still under an existing PSP closure for butter clams only, including all public and private beaches from Point No Point south to Blake Island, excluding Dyes Inlet, Sinclair Inlet, Liberty Bay, Rich Passage, Yukon Harbor, and beaches from Point Southworth to the south county line, which are open to all species, the release states. Warning signs have been posted at public beaches alerting people not to collect shellfish from those areas.

People can become life-threateningly sick from eating shellfish contaminated with the naturally occurring marine algae containing harmful biotoxins, which aren’t destroyed by cooking or freezing.

The Health District will continue to monitor shellfish at Kitsap County beaches, and notify the public if the levels of PSP toxin become unsafe in other areas, the release said.

For current shellfish closures within Kitsap County, call our hotline number: 1-800-2BE-WELL or visit www.kitsapcountyhealth.com. For closures in other areas of Washington, call the Washington State Department of Health’s Red Tide Hotline at 1-800-562-5632, or visit www.doh.wa.gov/ehp/sf/biotoxin.htm.