Taylor Shellfish Appeals Condition for Forage Fish Protection, Coalition Appeals Permit Approval for Taylor/Arcadia Farms

Taylor Shellfish Appeals Conditions to Protect Forage Fish in Geoduck Permit
Taylor Shellfish has appealed a condition in their recent geoduck farm permit approval which  requires forage fish protection through performing a survey of the upper intertidal area for spawn prior to harvesting (Sand Lance and Surf Smelt). To add injury to insult, they are also appealing the condition which would not permit discharge of sediments from the site into Puget Sound, increasing the risk of sediment plumes from their harvesting activities to be created and settle anywhere, including the forage fish spawning areas they now refuse to monitor. [click here for Taylor Shellfish appeal]

As support for their appeal Taylor's attorney provides the same information used by Pierce County and the Shoreline Hearings Board in the Longbranch geoduck farm permit decision and appeal. In that appeal, the Shoreline Hearing Boad decided these same forage fish spawning areas needed to be protected. The Shoreline Hearings Board added a specific condition to protect Sand Lance and Surf Smelt spawning areas.

Condition 3, added by the Shoreline Hearings Board, reads: "...no harvesting may occur during the sand lance or surf smelt spawning seasons until a spawning survey is conducted. If sand lance or surf smelt spawn are present in the growing area to be harvested or adjacent tidelands, then no harvest activities may occur until the eggs are hatched..."  Taylor did not appeal that condition.

PVC Pipes used for Geoduck cultivation

with a grounded barge in the

upper intertidal area, loaded with more.

"No net loss." Really?

Coalition Appeals Permit Approval
Coalition to Protect Puget Sound Habitat members Laura Hendricks and Susan Macomson have appealed the approval of all three geoduck farm permits for Taylor Shellfish (1, on the Lockhart parcel) and Arcadia Point Seafood (2, one on the McClure parcel, one on the Thiesen parcel) and are asking the County Commissioners to reverse the approval. The Coalition has stated the Examiner erred in concluding:
1. There would be no net loss to the ecological function of the shoreline;
2. The applications should be considered separately, despite 2 being adjacent to each other and other multiple farms existing in the area (see below), and therefor did not require a cumulative impacts analysis (piecemeal development); 
3. The effects would be "localized and short-term";
4. The interim and incomplete "science" (including a student's Masters Thesis) favored development of Thurston County's shorelines with commercial geoduck farms;
5. The conditions of approval would ensure the protection and preservation of the ecological functions and values of Thurston County's shorelines as mandated by the Shoreline Management Act [click here for SMA];
6. Combined effects would not result in a net loss of ecological function;
7. Gave legal authority to the state's Executive Branch (Governor Gregoire) mandating the Washington Shellfish Initiative; and,
8. These farms would not interfere with public recreational use of the shorelines.
[click here for appeal]

The Piecemeal Development/Fragmentation

of Henderson Inlet's Intertidal Shoreline



(click to enlarge)

You can help support prevention of the fragmentation of Puget Sound's nearshore environment which this piecemeal development is causing, contrary to the intent of the Shoreline Management Act. Contact Laura Hendricks at laura.l.hendricks@gmail.com; Case Inlet Shoreline Association at info@caseinlet.org; or, APHETI at apheti@gmail.com. Get involved and help ensure future generations will be able to enjoy the diversity of species supported by the near shore habitat found in Puget Sound. The shellfish industry is and they are well financed from excessive profits gained from current permitted geoduck operations which return little to the counties and state.