This is a claim in accordance with 33 CFR part 136 for damages suffered by the citizens of Washington State as the result of lost access to the shellfish resources located in Penn Cove on Whidbey Island. These loses occurred when public shellfish beaches were closed by the Washington State Department of Health until the shellfish could be verified as being safe for human consumption following contamination from an oil spill. This oil spill resulted following a fire on, and eventual sinking of, the former fishing vessel F/V DEEP SEA in May of 2012. The Washington Department of Health closed these public beaches for either 22 or 38 days (depending on location) to recreational shellfish harvesting which resulted in an estimated loss of 1,996 shellfish harvest user days. These lost shellfish harvest user days will cost an estimated $126,267 to compensate the shellfish harvesters in Washington State. While it is likely that other natural resources were also damaged by this incident, no cost effective method of determining those damages has been identified, and therefore no cost assessment has been included for these resources. The data and method for determining the damage assessment for lost shellfish harvest user days is provided below.
