SKAGIT COUNTY, Wash. – A new agreement will allow Washington shellfish producers to export their products to Europe for the first time in a decade.
The Pacific Coast Shellfish Growers Association says it is ending a ban on the molluskan shellfish trade between the U.S. and European Union that began in 2010 over differences in regulations.
Bill Dewey with Taylor Shellfish Farms says the EU market was important for them.
“A lot of clams in particular into Spain. Spanish people love clams. They eat them at just about every meal,” said Dewey. “So, we were selling about half a million pounds of manila clams a year into Spain. Then the ban came into place and we lost that market.”
The agreement allows producers in Washington and Massachusetts to ship oysters, clams, mussels and whole scallops to the EU, while Spain and the Netherlands can send their products here.
Dewey says the shellfish industry is an important part of our state’s economy.
“It generates just around $200 million a year in economic activity and employs just under 3,000 people both in direct and induced jobs,” said Dewey.
And most of those jobs are in rural parts of the state including Samish Bay in Skagit County.