The science of beach combing with Tracie Barry

Interview and photos by Anne Beasley

Tracie Barry is a lover of all things beach related. She can be found wandering the shores of Westport for hours with a large bag on her shoulder. She meticulously collects trash and treasures along the way. But Tracie is not your typical beachcomber; she brings a unique perspective to her seaside adventures. As a marine biotoxin specialist for the Washington State Department of Health, she plays a crucial role in monitoring and regulating shellfish safety statewide. With that level of expertise, Tracie brings a scientific mindset to her beach walks, collecting personal data on the currents, storm patterns, shoreline erosion, bird flight patterns, and the well being of her beloved shellfish. The Drift caught up with Tracie to learn how passion and profession work together.

Tracie Barry Collection

Let’s start with science. What are marine biotoxins in shellfish and how do you monitor that? 

Out here on the coast the primary issue is domoic acid in razor clams. But most of my work is focused on protecting people from paralytic shellfish toxins in Puget Sound shellfish, particularly sub-tidal gooey duck, which is one of the most important shellfish exports in Washington.  Every day I update the Shellfish Safety Map.

It's actually an incredible job. We have a hundred sentinel monitoring sites all over the place.The sentinels are mussels generally. They will eat anything. They get toxic the fastest and they get rid of the toxins the fastest. So they really tell you what's happening. Other shellfish tend to pick up toxins later. And so once we have a toxic mussel, we will close recreational harvest because it can change so fast.

And then we'll start requiring all the commercial companies in the area to submit samples. It's really tightly managed to avoid contaminated shellfish from getting on the market and onto people's plates.

Out here it’s very much a partnership. We are the health authority, but the season is managed by Fish and Wildlife. So when the season is closed no one is allowed to dig or harvest and that is a terrific way to keep people safe.

In Puget Sound it is solely us for the closures. We don’t have an enforcement arm so we work with Fish and Wildlife on that, but we also don’t have authority over privately owned beaches. So we say an area is closed, toxins are present, the maps are updated, the local health departments post signs, but you could still be out there harvesting other things or maybe you don’t take it seriously and people end up really sick.

Do you eat and harvest shellfish? Do you dig for Razor clams?

Yes! Razor clam digging is one of my favorite things in the entire world. I feel that shellfish are deeply ingrained in us as coastal Pacific people. I love everything about this harvest. I think it's managed really well by Fish and Wildlife as a population.

It brings me so much joy to go on a dig with a friend, or family, and especially taking someone for their first time- showing people this ridiculous sharp clam that can get away from you and that escapes quite often.

I've been out on such terrible days that you just laugh with the wind and rain and sometimes hail. It’s ridiculous but you feel so alive and so connected to your food and the ocean. Razor clams are the most magnificent shellfish- the way they get away from you and how much they mean to entire communities. Even if you don't care about razor clam digging, our economy is so dramatically impacted by it. I'm so proud of this connection to all of it.

What do you think about and look for when you are on the beach?

Oh my gosh, all I think about is beach. I love to pick up trash. It's so interesting. I’ll go out there all day and drag buoys and garbage until my arms hurt. I love the tiny things. I often find these weird, game chips of some kind. I just found another one this year and I get really excited about that stupid stuff. Or when all that Vellela washed up- I mean how exciting was that? It tells you so much about ocean currents and weather patterns. They blow in due to a sustained onshore event. Vellela live 300 miles out, so for them to make it to our shores is kind of extraordinary!

image- Velella on beach in Westport

Other times you see lots of yellow ropes on the beach. That's showing me there was probably big flooding in the bays. And I think that's so interesting because it’s teaching us about circulation. I also get excited when I start to see water bottles with pelagic gooseneck barnacles on them. That’s telling me stuff is coming from really far away. So as I’m picking up water bottles and chunks of styrofoam, I’m thinking about not only recent local weather, but huge climate patterns. 

You can learn so much about what's happening on the ocean by looking at the beach. Back in 1942, which is the last time we had deaths related to marine biotoxins in Washington, the first symptoms were tons of dead sea birds on the beach. And it literally was just beachcombers reporting it! At the same time people were digging razor clams and feeding the necks and the guts to their chickens and cats and they started dying. And that major paralytic event covering the coast was tipped off by beachcombers and dead sea birds. My program actually started following those deaths.

Sometimes science is just knowing a place and recognizing what's different. All the local people out here that have been beach combing forever and have heard their grandparents stories of beach combing, they know so much about this place. And they notice when something's changed and that can make a big difference in us preparing for a disaster - from a marine toxin event to even symptoms of a tsunami.

Do you have a favorite time of year for beach combing?

Right now! March and April are prime beach-combining season. This time of year the shore erosion season is coming to an end, and we soon start the shore building season. I love the long range debris that comes in. It may be a container that fell off a ship in China and that can traced back to when it washes up here. We have had episodes of finding Crocs, bicycle helmets with spikes, play mats and even Yeti coolers.

Why do you think people love to collect things from the beach? Should we leave some things behind?

I weirdly think it's biological, that there's some receptor in our brain, a chemical gratification you get from finding something. But every time you take something, you are changing the system in some way right? A good example of this is not allowing people to drive north of the condos anymore so that they won't take the wood. That wood needs to stay there as a barrier. It’s actually called soft revetment. Just like the boulders they put in the front of the condos. It's meant to move with the water and break down the wave energy and it traps sand like hard armor. So you know, everything that is found in nature, if you leave it the way it is, is going to be better.

What about the glass floats? Why is it so exciting to find one?

The glass floats are especially beautiful.They are a time capsule of fishing practices before plastic. They're a beautiful memento of history. And in particular, the ones that are part of Westport Wild Floats are real ones from Japan. They have been used and now they're being thrown to the sea. I think it's just inherent in all of us to like something shiny and beautiful. The thing that I'm most excited about is finding a real one that made it here through time. I have only found three over the last decade. Last March I found one down at the jetty and just about keeled over in excitement. That day I had already ran into two other trash picker uppers, there were two surfers out, and a person with their dog so I was thinking anything good was already found. But so much of it is just being in the right place at the right time.

It’s similar with hunting agates. I think the magic is that we all see light a little differently. And we all have a different angle. Every time the sun changes a little bit, you might see something different. And when a wave comes up and stirs things up, a brand new one might show up.

image- Wild Japanese float found at the Jetty in Westport

What is the wildest thing you've ever found on the beach?

The not body! My husband Nick and I were driving the beach looking for Yeti coolers, because we got a tip from a beach combing friend down in Long Beach that they were washing up all over the place. We get down to Washaway Beach and there's something floating just inside the shorebreak and it looks like a big bull kelp mass. Sometimes those have glass floats and nets tangled in them that have been there for 60 years, maybe longer. So, I jump out of the truck and run down to the water and I'm looking at this kelp wad and all of a sudden a foot pops out! 

I start waving my hands in the air to Nick. Of course he thought I found something really cool. So I start running back to the truck and I’m completely out of breath and I tell him I think I found a body. My fight or flight instinct completely takes over. My brain isn't computing what I just saw. It's horrific. So he goes down there to check it out.

But I can’t stop myself, I’m calling 9-1-1. I mean there are feet! So I have 9-1-1 on the phone and Nick starts waving at me. The kelp wad is now close to shore. So I run back toward him all while still on the phone, and I’m trying to describe the body and where I am on the beach to the 911 operator. I hear Nick yelling at me, and I stop and he’s yelling, “it’s a sex doll!” And oh my God I have to tell 9-1-1 it’s a sex doll and suddenly it’s the funniest darn thing in the world! 

When I get closer, I see it’s a really expensive life-like doll made of silicone. It has no head, a stick through one of its legs, and it feels just like flesh when you touch it. So the 9-1-1 operator gets me in touch with the Park Service and I leave a voicemail. They probably laughed when they heard it!

I was still pretty freaked out. I mean it had perfect toes. I had to convince my brain it wasn’t real. All I wanted to do was get out of there. The park ranger calls me back and asks me if I live around here, and then tells me it’s probably just a CPR mannequin, that the Coast Guard actually loses a lot of them. And I’m like yeah well CPR mannequins don’t have breasts! I tell him again where to look because I can guarantee him other people are going to call if they don’t go find it. A few days later I’m still thinking about that doll, and some beach collectors down in Long Beach tell me if I can get my hands on the doll, they will trade it for three glass floats. So I text the ranger, but he tells me its been disposed. That’s the story of the not body. I can’t imagine finding anything weirder!

Do you have any favorite treasures?

I was walking on the beach to my friend's house one summer. And summer isn't the best beach combing time, but you do find people's keys and phones, which is nice to be able to get them back to them. I picked up a piece of wood that had an interesting shape and also because it was purple heartwood, which is usually found in boats. I brought it home and didn't think anything of it, but when I showed my husband he recognized it is a primitive fishing reel. Who knows where it's from? Maybe it’s local, but I do imagine somebody in Micronesia fishing with it. I'll never really know what the story is, but it's one of my favorite things I've ever stumbled upon.

Tracie Barry collection

Where else do you like to go in the area?

All I want in the world is for people to have an awareness of how special this place we call home is. We have everything here. We have mountains and ocean and rivers and fossils and agates and birds and fish and these magnificent trees. As for other places the wildness of Kalaloch makes my heart sing. I love that it's a little dangerous there. You have to know and think about the tides and storms and surges and swell.

I love walking up John's River and stumbling on some elk, seeing the different kind of mushrooms, maybe finding an agate, or tossing a spinner out there and see if I catch a fish. I grew up in Hoquiam and I love driving Port Dock Road. The shore birds that come in, the magnificent pussy willows, and the old derelict buildings along the water that tell you so much about the history- the heyday of logging. I love that little loop. It brings me so much joy.

And as much as I love the ocean, I feel like my soul lives in the center of Lake Quinault. 

I hear you are also a bit of an artist. Can you tell me more about that? 

So I've always been an art dabbler, but I have this fatal flaw where I'm very literal. I also have an obsession with tiny things. I like to draw on the inside of shells. Line drawing is important in my line of work too. I love simple sketches of things. Lately I’ve been doing Linocuts. It started when I wanted to make something special for some volunteers within our sentinel monitoring program, So I made a mussel linocut as a thank you card. And then butter clams. And so I've just continued these shellfish prints and it's perhaps the art that I'm most proud of in my entire life. I love them and I love the process. It's so satisfying to carve, the drying out of the rubber or the linoleum. And then every single time that you stamp it, your ink's going to roll on the paper or fabric a little differently. So each one is unique. I love sharing them with people who love shellfish. 

image- Tracies Shellfish Linocuts

Tracie, thanks so much for sharing with us. You have really inspired me to look at beach combing in a different way and to always carry a trash bag to the beach!