‘A forest fire in Puget Sound’: Heat wave bakes Washington shellfish industry
Matthew Smith
As the record-setting temperatures hit the Pacific Northwest last week, tens of thousands of locals were seeking shelter from the heat. Over at Hama Hama’s clam beds in Lilliwaup, Washington the farm manager was simply trying to understand what he was seeing with his own eyes.
“The clams were popping up, it looked like they were steamed open,” explained Adam James, a fifth-generation farmer at the Hama Hama Company.
James understood what was happening to a degree; in fact, he and his co-workers had been bracing for the worst days ahead of time. They knew unseasonably warm temps were coming, and worst of all they were timing out with a rare, extremely low tide meaning a good chunk of their shellfish farming operation in the Hood Canal region would be both uncovered and fully exposed to the deadly heat. That didn’t make the sight any less shocking.