Our mission is to protect the habitat of Puget Sound tidelands from the underregulated expansion of new and intensive shellfish aquaculture methods. These methods were never anticipated when the Shoreline Management Act was passed. They are transforming the natural tideland ecosystems in Puget Sound and are resulting in a fractured shoreline habitat. In South Puget Sound much of this has been done with few if any meaningful shoreline permits and with limited public input. It is exactly what the Shoreline Management Act was intended to prevent.

Get involved and contact your elected officials to let them you do not support aquaculture's industrial transformation of Puget Sound's tidelands.

Governor Inslee:

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Seattle Times 4/28: "Disbelief over state plan to spray neurotoxin into oyster beds"

What could go wrong?

The Seattle Times writes on the Department of Ecology's approval to spray Willapa Bay's shellfish beds with the neurotoxin imidacloprid, and as Bloomberg News did, they also ask: "What could go wrong?"
The state has approved plans to spray in Willapa Bay a neurotoxic pesticide that has a warning right on the bottle: “Do not apply directly to water.” What could go wrong? (Seattle Times, 4/28, updated 4/29)
What could go wrong? Consider:

Causing the Willapa Bay shellfish industry irreparable harm after people decide they would rather not consume oysters and clams filtering pesticides and herbicides out of the waters of Willapa Bay.

People realizing this industry, driven by east coast lobbying firms, is becoming little more than a creation of the Glover Park Group ("Own the Conversation"), parroting lines created in Washington DC and New York, perhaps even suggesting to Taylor Shellfish it's better to now have young Diani Taylor be the spokeswoman instead of elder father Bill Taylor (Who's going to pick on a young woman?). ("It's not your grandfather's oyster farm.")

Maybe, during low tides, when PVC pipes and nets suddenly appear, people may finally accept the reality that this industry has become caught up in its own hubris, believing anything they do to increase shellfish production from Washington's critical marine habitat is fine and no state agency will question it.

What to do - Permit Appeal:

The permit approval may be appealed. You can encourage The Coalition to Protect Puget Sound Habitat or The Exerces Society to appeal. More importantly, you can contribute to the Coalition who for years now has resisted the shellfish industry's attempts to expand into Puget Sound and Willapa Bay.

What to do - Politics: Get Involved
Find your elected official and tell them you do not support this decision. You can also tell your political party to stop taking donations from the shellfish industry.  It will make a difference.

You can find your elected officials here: http://app.leg.wa.gov/DistrictFinder/
Governor Inslee: 360 902-4111 or, email at - https://fortress.wa.gov/es/governor/




Posted by Protect Our Shoreline at 5:07 PM
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