COUPEVILLE, Wash. (Metro) -- Shellfish farming and harvesting may resume soon, now that a derelict fishing boat has been pulled from the bottom of Penn Cove, near Coupeville.
State officials tell the "Seattle Times" residents may get the go-ahead to resume the harvest as soon as tomorrow, depending on today's testing to find out if area shellfish are contaminated by fuel from the vessel.
That's welcome news for residents of Whidbey Island, home of world-renowned mussels.
Harvesters were ordered to stop their work after the Deep Sea caught fire and sank May 13th.
The State Department of Ecology says more than five-thousand gallons of fuel products were removed from the boat or the surface of the water during the recovery operation.
The Deep Sea was lifted to the surface yesterday and will now be "deep-sixed" -towed or barged to Seattle and scrapped.
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