Taylor Shellfish: "What Washington shellfish farmers need is regulatory support."

[Not said:  "Unless it restricts our ability to expand our commercial operations."]

Taylor Shellfish submitted this comment to the Washington State Noxious Weed Control Board  (WSNWCB) as part of the shellfish industry's successful attempt to have Japanese Eelgrass declared a noxious weed - if it's on a commercial shellfish bed.  Prior to January 2011 it was considered a Priority Habitat Species.

The Washington Deparatment of Fish and Wildlife submitted this comment:  "WDFW strongly opposes the listing of Z. japonica as a noxious weed in Puget Sound. Chinook and chum salmon, steelhead trout, and three species of rockfish are listed under the Endangered Species Act in Puget Sound. All but steelhead juvenile life history stages of these species are widely known to use eelgrass as cover from predation, as migration corridors, and to seek food resources."

Who did the WSNWCB listen to?  It was not WDFW nor the many others who commented against it.

Efffective January 16 this year the application of herbicides in Puget Sound and Willapa Bay's waters to control what had been until early 2011 considered a Priority Habitat Species may begin.  This is the shellfish industry's idea of "regulatory support."