The Oregon Department of Agriculture has closed commercial oyster harvesting in Coos Bay following a Thursday morning sewage spill in North Bend.

Dawn Smith, food program manager with the Food Safety Division, said officials collected water samples Thursday night and could reopen harvesting as early as Saturday.

According to a press release from the City of North Bend, at about 9:30 a.m., 30,000 gallons of sewage discharged into the bay at the east end of Exchange Street after debris blocked a pipe causing a backup. Sewage overflowed a manhole and into a nearby storm-water catch basin.

City crews cleared the blockage by 10 a.m. and cleaned the area. The Oregon Spill Response, the Coos County Health Department, and the state departments of environmental quality and agriculture were notified.

Smith said the spill does not compare to one in January that dumped an estimated 500,000 gallons of partially treated waste into the bay.

As to clamming in the bay, she said the state agency doesn’t monitor recreational harvesting.

For more information, contact Bob Dillard at 756-6078.