Taylor Shellfish Kicks Monterey Bay Sustainability Standards Under the Bus

Get involved: Tell Juan this is not sustainable aquaculture.

Contact - Juan Aguirre, JAguirre@scsglobalservices.com

"Public Notice" information on "sustainability" certification for south Puget Sound is found here:

http://www.asc-aqua.org/upload/1_20150611_Taylor%20Shellfish_South%20Sound%20SS-A_ANNOUNCEMENT.pdf

Firm from the Netherlands will now determine 

if Taylor Shellfish farms in a "sustainable" manner.

Only Totten Inlet, Little Skookum and Oakland Bay

will be considered. (A separate application 

for Willapa Bay has been submitted, found here.)

Are thousands of PVC pipes in

Puget Sound's tidelands "sustainable"?

Is this "structure" a "habitat"?

The algae is green. Does that help?

Monterey Bay Aquarium listens to citizens and reconsiders ratings for geoduck farms
In a September 15, 2014 letter to Pierce County, attorneys for Taylor Shellfish touted how Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch had given farmed geoduck a "green" rating. Citizens from the northwest complained (see Coalition to Protect Puget Sound Habitat letter here). Those initial concerns and complaints resulted in scores for "Data", "Effluent", and "Wildlife Mortalities" being lowered (see Protect Our Shoreline post from December here). Following those concerns, Monterey Bay then held a "webinar" in which citizens were invited to participate and express their concerns. Many did and Monterey Bay Aquarium listened with interest.

Is growing a genetically modified, sterile,

non-native Pacific oyster "sustainable"?

Ask the man in wooden shoes.

Yellow is the new Green
Taylor Shellfish has now decided to pursue a "sustainability" certification for its geoduck, non-native Pacific oyster, non-native Manila clams, and non-native Gallo mussels grown in south Puget Sound from another organization, ASC, based in the Netherlands. Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch, concerned with the credibility of other programs, ranks the standards of ASC as a "yellow" which they define as:

 Buy, but be aware there are concerns with how they’re caught or farmed.

Harstine Island's Fudge Point State Park? Ignore it.

Harstine Island's Wilson Point? Ignore it.

A "cluster" of farms is not the same as an entire company's operations.
In the certification announcement, Taylor Shellfish is not asking for certification of its methods overall. It is only seeking certification for a "cluster" of farms. One "cluster" is in Totten Inlet, Little Skookum Inlet, and Oakland Bay. Not included are the expansive geoduck farms throughout south Puget Sound, including those along the shores of Harstine Island, Key Penninsula, and those proposed in Burley Lagoon and in Carr Inlet. Separately, another cluster is located in Willapa Bay, where imazamox is being sprayed, fully supported by Taylor Shellfish (see Public Notice below).

Is the application of an herbicide

a sustainable practice?

Get involved. Taylor Shellfish is. If they want true certification, why not return to those who their attorney/lobbyist told Pierce County was so good? Taylor Shellfish is seeking an easy certification which Monterey Bay's Seafood Watch considers only capable of giving a "Yellow" ("...there are concerns...") rating. If that.