Bounty of the Sea

In a true celebration of Independence, this weekend was the annual Bounty of the Sea seafood harvesting and beer drinking extravaganza. This event involves various salty types setting out to gather, trap, and dig some of Puget Sound's salty bounty, meanwhile engaging in discussions on the vagaries of bivalve anatomy and why geoduck pate may not really be possible (because geoducks just don't have livers, ya know?). Some savage allergies took me out of the running for the early morning ferries over to Whidbey Island, so I missed out on extreme shellfish harvesting, but a banner number of geoduckers turned in an impressive haul. I also failed to bring a camera, so I have to resort to photos of Bounties past to explain what all is involved here.

With the low tides smack dab in the middle of the day, conditions are right for gathering up all sorts of shellfish...okay there were those Vibrio warnings going about, but I guess you have to live life on the edge a bit, which is why I wasted no time in enjoying the geoduck sashimi prepared by the resident Japanese guy! He did a bang up job and I suffered no ill effects, well, at least yet. For those not in the know, the geoduck, Panopea abrupta, is a long-lived bivalve that seems to have outgrown its shell and has a rather large, uh, siphon.

They are found deep in the sediment, so the harvesting can be a considerable challenge, necessitating diving head first into a giant hole that took forever to dig. The effort of this year's harvesters was clear from all the sandy heads and ears walking around. Way to go team!

Though the Bounty was timed to correspond with the opening of crab season, the haul was, well, non-existent. Too bad. I did add in a few spot prawns, Pandalus platycaros, from my Sequim source, so that was a nice addition to the bivalve smorgasbord. Also, one adventurous soul harvested some moon sails, Polinices lewisii, and turned them into a moon snail salad of sorts. My review: moon snail makes squid look tender; this was the most rubbery thing I've ever eaten. "A" for effort on the trial species and preparation though--gotta applaud adventurous dining. Maybe next year we can get a Parastichopus!