Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge: Permit Decision Delayed Until January 10

Voluminous Amount of Information, A Simple Reality
Clallam County has announced a delay until January 10 on the decision on whether a permit should be approved which would allow up to 80,000 plastic grow out on the tidelands within the boundaries of the Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge. The Hearing Examiner was flooded with information on why non-native Pacific oysters grown in grow out bags should not be allowed within the Wildlife Refuge, and more supporting why the industry thinks it's a good idea.

Native Olympia Oyster vs

nonnative Pacific oyster

Native Avian Species Using the Wildlife Refuge

Native Species have No Where Else to Go
At the core, the question before the Hearing Examiner is whether a small shellfish operation which was abandoned in the mid-2000's due to water quality issues should now be allowed to return in an intensity never seen in any Wildlife Refuge, nor for that matter anywhere in Washington State. 80,000 plastic bags layering over the tidelands is disruptive and belong somewhere else. Also weighing on the decision is the precedent it would set, being used by other commercial shellfish operators as an example of why other Wildlife Refuges should have commercial shellfish operations allowed.

Not conjecture, but reality.
Attorneys for the industry would argue the issue of precedence is merely conjecture. But one only need look at the precedent argument used by those same attorneys to justify expansion of new geoduck farms, pointing to other permits having been issued, establishing a clear reliance on the use of past permit decisions as a precedent for future permit decisions. It is the industry's legal reality they live in and for that reason alone the permit should be denied.

Enjoy the Holidays