DNR Requests Comments on $2.6 million Geoduck Harvest by Taylor Shellfish to Resolve Trespass

Comments due August 13
Email: sepacenter@dnr.wa.gov
Include file number 12-073001

The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has issued a request for comments on a SEPA mitigated determination of non-significance (MDNS) for a proposal by Taylor Shellfish to harvest geoduck planted on state owned tidelands without a lease. Over 50% will be "dive harvested" in shallow waters. (SEPA Documents here)

Presumed Taylor Shellfish Trespass Area
On State Tidelands below Mean Low Tide

(south of Allyn on Pickering Passage)

(click to enlarge)

2006, DOE Coastal Atlas

In 2010 a DNR investigation into trespass on state tidelands found that Taylor Shellfish had been growing geoduck without a lease agreement on a state owned tideland parcel below mean low tide. The 2010 settlement terms for this trespass included allowing Taylor Shellfish to harvest the now ~175,000 pounds of geoduck on 1.8 acres. At a conservative $15/pound, the gross revenues from these geoducks alone approaches $2.6 million. Estimated net profit to Taylor Shellfish will be near $2 million. The state's Attorney General settled three cases in 2010, one against Taylor for $225,000 plus the right to harvest the planted shellfish (click here for the Kitsap Sun article).