Willapa Bay: Oyster growers ask to spray over 3,000 acres of oyster beds with imazamox.

Environmentally Sensitive Oyster Growers

Brant Geese: No time left for you,

on your way to a better place. Right?

Another chemical added to the "chemical soup" of Willapa Bay
Public Notice has been given that oyster growers ("good stewards" as they like to describe themselves) wish to spray over 3,000 acres of oyster beds with the herbicide imazamox. Their goal is to eliminate Japanese eelgrass, a naturalized species of eelgrass which has long been used a  food source for the great migrating flocks of marine birds which stop over in Willapa Bay, and by young salmon as habitat and protection on their great migration out to the ocean.

Restore habitat for native oysters

so non-native invasive Pacific oysters

can take it over?

(click here to read the complete paper)

Shellfish logic: Spray the naturalized non-native so we can grow the invasive non-native Pacific oyster

Ironic in all of the press to shape Willapa Bay into something the shellfish growers are happy with is it is for the purpose of growing non-native Pacific oysters and non-native Manila clams. In fact, Sea Grant has recently noted their concerns about restored habitat for native oysters being lost to the invasive and non-native Pacific oysters. In the article they note: 

The traits that make it so suited to culture could also make it a formidable invader..."Our worry is that native oyster restoration efforts may backfire and we will end up creating habitat for the invasive oyster,” said Danielle Zacherl, a professor at Cal State Fullerton, who has been documenting the Pacific oyster’s spread in San Diego and Orange counties and is involved in native oyster bed restoration in Southern California.

Dredging for oysters - and native eelgrass.

Collateral damage.

(click here to watch dredging in Willapa Bay)

And while we're at it, we may has well pull up the native eelgrass as well, without a permit

Equally ironic is that while the shellfish growers are spraying Japanese eelgrass, they are also dredging the bedlands for oyster and in the process removing the native eelgrass. Far more easily as they don't need a permit so are able to avoid regulatory oversight.

Sign the petition and add Willapa Bay 

in the comment section.

Get inolved - Washington's marine habitat is not for the shellfish industry alone

The shellfish industry views Washington's marine habitat as theirs alone. They have the money to spend on contract scientists, politicians, and attorneys and are relentless in their push to expand. And in this case, propose spraying over 3,000 acres with the herbicide called imazamox. One small step you can take is to sign the petition to Governor Inslee, adding that Willapa Bay is equally important to Puget Sound in the comment section.