![]() ![]() Technology provides a boost for most phases of a commercial oyster’s life cycle, from a microscopic bit of fertilized plankton to its appearance on a plate of crushed ice in a restaurant. The introduction of hardier, faster-growing species in the early 1900s and continued improvements on growing techniques have brought Washington back to the top of the heap of American oyster production, and intense marketing is opening international markets. The region’s native oysters were so lucrative that by the start of the 20th century they were almost gone because of overharvesting, hard winters and pollution. That popularity almost became their undoing. The flip bags produce perfectly-shaped single oysters, which are headed to oyster bars and restaurants around the world. Thousands of floats staked out in rows indicate the location of mesh “flip bags” contaning premium oysters being grown in Willapa Bay Wednesday, Oct. ![]() No state did that then, and no other state does it now. Washington oysters became so popular in the following decades that they were shipped around the country.Īnd they were so important to the early Washington economy that even before statehood, the territorial legislature allowed residents to own tidal lands where they could grow and harvest oysters and other shellfish. ![]() In 1851 – long before the Palouse hills were planted with wheat or the Okanogan Valley with apples – Washington oysters were harvested and shipped off to a waiting market in California, where Gold Rush miners were willing to pay top dollar for the tasty bivalves. The state’s oldest “crop” – or maybe its first commercial “livestock” – grows in the bays, coves and inlets of the Pacific Ocean and the Puget Sound, opening shells when the tide is in to pull nutrients out of the salty water and closing them tight against predators when the tide is out. ![]() The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Seth Wilkinson.Washington farms don’t stop at the water’s edge. The case was investigated by NOAA Fisheries Enforcement, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Police and the Alaska Department of Public Safety, with assistance from the California Department of Fish and Game, and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans – Canada. Investigators also retrieved video showing Olsen personally delivering the crates for shipment to Oakland. However, investigators reviewed surveillance video from the transfer station showing that at the time of the receipt, Olsen only disposed of a small amount of household waste. Olsen falsely told Alaskan officials that he had destroyed the geoduck and provided them with a bill from the King County garbage transfer station as proof the geoduck had been destroyed. Olsen prepared false shipping paperwork that falsely identified the contents of the crates as “fresh Yelloweye.” Olsen shipped an additional 10 cases of potentially tainted geoduck to a buyer in Oakland, California. Instead of destroying the geoduck, Olsen illegally shipped most of the geoduck to Hong Kong for human consumption. Olsen told the trooper he would destroy the geoduck. An Alaska Wildlife Trooper notified Olsen that he needed to destroy the shipment as it was unsafe to consume. The area had not been tested for the toxins that cause paralytic shellfish poisoning, which has been a recurring problem in Alaskan waters. One day after the purchase, but before the geoduck were exported, one of the divers notified Alaska state officials that he had mistakenly harvested his geoduck from an area that had not been approved for harvest. Department of Commerce Export Health Certificate stating that the geoduck met health requirements. The geoduck were mixed together in crates for shipping, and were picked up at Sea-Tac Airport, to be trucked to Vancouver B.C and shipped to Hong Kong. “We’ll likely never know if any of the Chinese customers became ill from these clams, but a prison sentence is justified by the danger of his conduct and his repeated lies to authorities, claiming he had destroyed the potentially harmful geoduck.”Īccording to records filed in the case, on February 20 or 21, 2019, Olsen purchased 2,500 pounds of geoduck from various Alaska divers. Olson chose to gamble with the lives of customers across the globe – putting them at risk of shellfish poisoning,” said U.S. Coughenour sentenced Olsen’s company, Absolute Seafoods LLC, to probation and was ordered to pay a $25,000 fine. Jeffrey Hallin Olsen, 52, owner of Absolute Seafoods LLC, falsified documents and lied to authorities about disposing of 46 cases of potentially tainted geoduck from Alaska. District Court in Seattle to 90 days in prison, and three years of supervised release, for smuggling goods from the United States, announced U.S. Seattle – A Burien, Washington, seafood broker was sentenced today in U.S. ![]()
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