Improve water quality in shellfish harvest areas. Degraded water quality can negatively impact shellfish population health and/or make shellfish unsafe for human consumption. For instance, Lummi shellfish beds in portions of Portage Bay were closed to ceremonial, subsistence, and commercial harvest from 1996-2006 (735 total acres affected, includes intertidal and subtidal) and again from September 2014 to the present (496 total acres affected, includes intertidal and subtidal, as of December 31, 2014) after concentrations of fecal coliform bacteria were measured in excess of federal National Shellfish Sanitation Program (NSSP) standards. The 1996-2006 closure was largely attributed to poor dairy waste management practices in the Nooksack River watershed. In response to this closure, federal and state agencies increased compliance inspections and a new state law was enacted that required the development and implementation of nutrient management plans (a.k.a., farm plans) throughout Whatcom County. As a result of these actions, additional water quality monitoring, and improved inter-agency coordination, water quality improved in the Nooksack River and over the shellfish growing area which led to the eventual reopening of the shellfish harvest areas. The current shellfish area downgrade illustrates that increased enforcement and other actions will again be necessary to achieve and sustain federal, state, and Lummi Nation water quality standards.