Here's an example of the kind of closures I'm concerned about, with scheduled razor clam digs on Washington's coast being cancelled because of the number of people that travel and congregate during these digs:
""WDFW is responsive to the needs of local communities, and we manage razor clams in consultation with our coastal communities to ensure sustainable harvest," said Larry Phillips, WDFW's coastal region director. "But, under these circumstances, we need to include more than sustainable harvest in our decision making and do what is the best for the community. We understand that the county health department is responding to a global pandemic and WDFW is cancelling these digs to support that work and keep folks healthy."
There was a lot of dialogue and a fairly long process to approve these digs in light of COVID-19 concerns, and it has been a rapidly evolving issue, he added. "Typically, we would want to provide much more notice before cancelling a razor clam dig," said Phillips.
Given the level of concern expressed in the communities, and the fact that some of the beaches open to razor clam digging fall within multiple counties, we also elected to close all currently open beaches to razor clam digging in order to provide consistency in approach, added Phillips."