We license and regulate over 300 companies that commercially harvest and sell bivalve molluscan shellfish (clams, mussels, oysters, and scallops). Our goal is to make sure bivalve molluscan shellfish offered in markets and restaurants are safe to eat. To do this, we:
- Approve commercial harvest only in areas where the water quality does not pose a threat to public health.
- License companies that harvest, process, and sell shellfish commercially.
- Routinely inspect commercial companies for compliance with state and federal sanitation requirements.
- Provide training and technical assistance to licensees.
- Take action against companies that do not follow safe harvest practices and comply with shellfish sanitation requirements.
- Closely monitor biotoxins, vibrio, and other pathogens that may be in commercial shellfish.
- Close commercial harvest areas if there's a threat to human health.
- Investigate illnesses caused by eating shellfish and recall commercial product implicated in an illness.
Process Improvement Projects
Customer Satisfaction Survey
In January 2017, we conducted a Customer Satisfaction Survey (PDF) for licensed harvesters and shellfish dealers as a way to measure and evaluate the effectiveness of the service we provide to the commercial shellfish industry. We sent the survey to all 327 of our licensed shellfish companies and received 92 responses. Overall, the survey results were positive with most respondents indicating that they are satisfied with the level of service they receive and believe that service has improved.
Harvest Site Certification Process Improvement
We reviewed and updated our internal procedures for processing Harvest Site Certification requests in 2016 to improve clarity and consistency. As part of the improvement effort, we updated the application form and created a Harvest Site Certification webpage that discusses the process.
License Renewal Process Improvement
In 2016, we completed a quality improvement project on our shellfish license renewal process. Prior to this effort it took an average of 13 business days to process a shellfish dealer license renewal request. After completing the Lean process it took an average of 6 business days to process a shellfish dealer license renewal for a 53% reduction in processing time. We achieved this reduction by streamlining our license renewal paperwork, improving recertification inspection timeliness, and other process improvements. We are currently undergoing a quality improvement project for our initial licensure process as a subsequent project.