Dungeness Bay Geoduck Farm Informational Meeting, January 10, 2-4 PM, Dungeness Schoolhouse

"Improved water quality" should not give the shellfish

industry a free pass to transform the intertidal

marine habitat area for the benefit of

the Chinese elite, themselves

and those they choose to donate money to.

 

Land trust organizations and politicians

receiving donations from the overwhelming profits

of geoduck sold to the Chinese should not

turn away from the reality that

 Puget Sound's intertidal areas

are being transformed...

 

...to this:

"Good for the economy" 

"Good for donations"

is a bad combination for

Puget Sound's future.

 

Subject: PUBLIC MEETING on IMPACTS TO DUNGENESS AREA BY INDUSTRIALIZED SHELLFISH OPERATION
Importance: High

 

PUBLIC MEETING on  IMPACTS TO DUNGENESS AREA BY INDUSTRIALIZED SHELLFISH OPERATION

 

An informational meeting will be held at the Dungeness Schoolhouse, 2nd Floor, Saturday, January 10, 2015,  2-4 PM to discuss implications of Shelton WA based TAYLOR SHELLFISH FARMS proposal to site a 30 acre geoduck operation on tidelands by the mouth of the Dungeness River and close to the publicly owned WA State Department of Fish and Wildlife’s 3 Crabs wetland restoration project and the US Fish and Wildlife Dungeness Refuge Graveyard Spit protected for breeding birds.Taylor signed a multi-year lease with Bellevue WA Dungeness Farms tidelands, owners of the gun club at the mouth of the Dungeness River.  Taylor’s plan is to raise thousands of geoducks for commercial export to Asia.  Each acre of tidelands requires thousands of plastic tubes for seeding geoducks and acres of netting. 

 

Citizens from areas of Puget Sound having experience with shellfish operations on neighborhood tidelands will describe the consequences of industrialized shellfish operations on WA State beaches and elsewhere.

                                          

Guest presenters and  panelists include Laura Hendricks:  Coalition To Save Puget Sound, Trina Bayard Ph.D, Director, Bird Conservation for Washington Audubon, Retired University of Oregon Law Professor Maradel Gale now with Bainbridge Alliance For Puget Sound and a Bainbridge Beach naturalist, and marine habitat specialist consultant Jim Brennan,MSc, formerly with the University of WA Sea Grant Program and the Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation Governing Board, and past President of Pacific Estuarine Research Society.

 

Large scale aquaculture plantations — shellfish and fin fish lots -- are proposed in the Clallam County Shoreline Master Plan for sitings throughout County shorelines and waters.  That plan can be seen on <http://www.clallam.net/LandUse/smp.html> .   What does this large scale industry mean for our natural resources?  What does this mean for wildlife?  What does this mean for home values?  What does this mean for public recreation?  Who profits?  Who loses?  These questions will be addressed at the January 10 forum.

 

The Dungeness Schoolhouse Is located at 2781 Towne Road, Sequim WA