Most Read Posts of 2013 - The Top 3

Listed below are the top 3 posts of 2013, measured by the number of unique viewers. It is apparent that there is intense interest in the geoduck industry.

#1: March 28 - China's President Xi Jinping - Popping the Geoduck Bubble


"If we don't redress unhealthy tendencies...we will lose our roots, our lifeblood and our strength." China's President Xi Jinping

This post was by far the most read of any in 2013. Contained within it is explained the risk which the geoduck industry faces in relying on China's hyper-elite as the market for over 90% of the geoduck harvested from Puget Sound. Focused largely on now current President Xi Jinping it notes his plans to address "public outrage over unearned privilege" (The Economist, February 19, 2013). As reported in The New York Times, March 27, 2013, President Jinping's austerity program had already resulted in "...sales of shark fins had dropped more than 70 percent, and sales of edible swallow nests, the main ingredient of a $100-a-bowl delicacy, were down 40 percent." It noted agencies - and tideland owners - needed to consider the reality of a market collapse as they are pressured by the industry to expand further into the tidelands of Puget Sound.

 

#2: July 25 - Comment on "Is West Marin Like the San Juans" By Peggy Day, Executive Producer of ‘Seriously Now’

Major chasms have developed in San Juan communities, pitting friend against friend and environmentalist against environmentalist.

This post discussed the issue of how some in West Marin County were bringing in people from outside of the area in an attempt to discredit Amy Trainer, head of West Marin Environmental Action Committee. In seeking to blunt Ms. Trainer's efforts to ensure that Drakes Estero became the wilderness Congress had intended decades ago, Robin Carpenter was able to pull in Ed Kilduff and Francine Shaw from San Juan County and create what is generously described as an "infomercial." In that public relations piece an attempt is made to discredit beliefs that environmental regulations are nothing but hindrances to the right to profit as one sees fit. The post sheds light on why Mr. Kilduff and Ms. Shaw believe what they do and questions whether this is really what Marin County is.

 

#3: December 13 - China Bans Importing of Washington Geoduck - A Bubble Popped?
In the still evolving story of China claiming to have discovered Arsenic in a shipment of geoduck from Washington and paralytic shellfish poisoning toxins (PSP or PST) from Alaska is found the dependence which the geoduck industry has on the Asian market. With 90% of the geoduck harvested from Puget Sound being exported to Asia, when China announced the discovery they also announced they were banning the import of all shellfish from the West Coast of the United States. The geoduck industry has been effectively shut down, bringing unemployment to many who relied on an unsustainable market and a glimpse of what happens when a bubble deflates. Theories of what happened include: contaminants were in fact found; China sent a message to the industry that it will not tolerate monopolies dictating prices; some in the industry want to shut down wild geoduck harvesting to make "farming" the "geoduck of choice"; China did not like B-52's flying through its newly expanded airspace; to President Xi Jinping simply exerting himself. As noted in a follow-on post, whatever the reason, bubbles deflating leave a gooey mess in their wake.