Source of Elevated Dioxin Levels in Oakland Bay (WA) Still Unknown

[Update 12/15/2013: Chinese ban shellfish harvested from Washington waters due to elevated levels of arsenic and paralytic shellfish poisoning toxins. Given Puget Sound's past use a convenient body of water to discharge pollutants into it's little surprise. In fact, one could say the surprise is why it took so long for contaminated shellfish to work their way into the system. See 12/13 post on the Chinese ban.]

60% of Manila clams produced in the

United States come from Oakland Bay, WA

 

The Department of Ecology has released its most recent report on the elevated levels of Dioxins discovered in 2008 testing of sediments of Oakland Bay (Shelton, WA). At that time questions of what levels of contaminants may exist below 12 inches resulted in testing and a final report, briefly summarized here. The entire text of the report on what the deeper sediment testing revealed may be found in Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3  (5mb, 5mb, 2mb respectively). In short, elevated levels of Dioxins lead to further testing and additional reports.

Harvesting clams in Oakland Bay

(sediment runoff from harvest area)



(click to enlarge)

In Oakland Bay (WA) over 60% of Manila clams in the United States are produced. Within Oakland Bay, Chapman Cove produces Kumamoto oysters described by Taylor Shellfish as having a "distinctive green tinge." In shellfish tissue samples taken for the DOH health analysis, performed after the elevated levels were discovered, the Kumamoto's were found to have the highest "ppt" (parts per trillion) of all shellfish tested. In the report, DOH felt the shellfish were safe for consumers, although they did recommend in their sediment evaluation consumers do such things as wash clams, hands, faces, brush under nails, and clean pets before allowing them inside (p. 17 and 18).

Dioxin levels in shellfish

from Oakland Bay.

 

 

According to the summary of the most recent report on possible sources, sediment samples taken from creeks feeding into the Bay indicate "these surface water inputs do not currently appear to be the source of the bay-wide dioxin levels."





Dioxin levels in Oakland Bay, Shelton Harbor,

and the "ash mound" near Shelton Creek.

(Note: The proposed Puget Sound

benchmark is 4ng/Kg.)

Within the more detailed report (10mb) it was noted that an old ash mound near Shelton Creek was found to have levels of Dioxins which, while elevated, are still below those found in the sediments of Shelton Harbor where Oakland Bay Marina is located. (Note: The City of Shelton recently amended its updated Shoreline Master Program to allow for up to 10 shellfish nurseries within existing boathouses.)

Shellfish nurseries existing and

proposed at the mouth of Shelton Creek

in Shelton Harbor.



Levels of Dioxins in the sediments of Oakland Bay, Shelton Harbor, and the Ash Mounds range from 4 times times to 8 times the statewide soil background levels of 5 ng/Kg (p. 20). The levels found near the mouth of Shelton Creek were just over 8 ng/Kg. Those in Oakland Bay were over 30 ng/Kg; Shelton Harbor 42 ng/Kg; with the two Ash Mound levels being 21 and 40 ng/Kg. The proposed benchmark for Puget Sound is 4 ng/Kg.

Just because you can't see it

doesn't mean it's not there.

Long life chemical pollutants do not

go away just because they are buried.



 

The long life of chemicals in sediments of Puget Sound, and elsewhere, is an ongoing problem for many areas. In the extreme are sediments near the ASARCO plant in Tacoma where mercury, lead, arsenic and other harmful chemicals exist within the deeper levels of sediments. 

 

In the current case, Oakland Bay was once thought to have sediments which were of little concern until sediments from deeper levels were analyzed. In that study (see opening paragraph above) it was shown that while sedimentation may slowly bury those chemicals from past historical activity, they do not go away.  More importantly, testing only the upper surficial levels does not reveal the complete picture. 

 

Geoducks harvested from depths of 3'

bring with them whatever is

contained in those sediments.

Whether "dry" harvesting (above) 

or "dive" harvesting (below).

 



Activities which expose those buried levels of sediments and cause them to re-enter the water column where they enter the food chain should be a concern for all. There, shellfish filter them out of the water column. Higher level species such as salmon consume lower level species which have absorbed them, in turn entering the food chain. These chemicals are like an Uncle who just keeps coming back and overstays his welcome.

 

Burley Lagoon, near Purdy in

south Puget Sound.

 

 

Currently Burley Lagoon is one of those areas where past industrial activity may have left remnants within deeper sediments. A letter to the Department of Ecology from the Department of Health noted elevated levels of polycholorinated byphenyl (PCB) were found in shellfish tissue samples.

"Shellfish samples exceeded screening level and will be evaluated further."

 

The likely source was the Stradley-Manning Super Fund site where transformers were stored and from which PCB's contaminated the area for years. The site was eventually cleaned and declared "safe" by EPA, but those PCB's which flowed downstream into Burley Lagoon to settle into the sediments to slowly be buried remain there, undetected and currently undisturbed.

 

In the letter to DOE, DOH performed an analysis which determined the shellfish with elevated levels of PCB were not a health risk. Not determined in that letter were whether elevated levels of PCB still exist in the deeper sediments, and if so, whether harvesting from current geoduck or future geoduck will re-introduce them into the water column. Should Taylor decide to move ahead with plans to develop its 30 + acre geoduck farm it may be wise to suggest DOE and DOH require deeper sediment testing.

 

DOE might also consider adding as a "recommendation" in its most recent report on the elevated levels of Dioxins within Oakland Bay that future sites where geoduck harvesting is occurring require sediment testing. It seems the Uncle may still be there, sleeping on the couch.



China's President Xi Jinping - Popping the Geoduck Bubble

Update 12/15/2013: China bans geoduck harvested from Washington due to elevated levels of paralytic shellfish poisoning toxins and arsenic. There should be little surprise to the Chinese - nor the Department of Health - given many of these geoduck are harvested from sediments which lie in the plume of the old ARSACO smelter which left elevated levels of arsenic and lead in the sediments from where geoduck are harvested. See Dec. 14 post on the ban and June 10 post on sediment contamination in Puget Sound where shellfish are harvested from.

Update 9/1/2013: China’s crackdown on corruption ... has forced a decline in lavish banquets.- In another indication of the risks tideland owners take on when leasing tidelands to geoduck farmers PhysOrg has reported that China's crackdown on corruption continues to decrease lavish banquets. While the focus of the article is on shark fins sold in China, geoduck are included in that category. It is only the hyper-elite in China who are able to afford the geoduck. That price is not sustainable, especially as the younger and more educated population come to realize the size of a geocuck neck has nothing to do with male virility.

"...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."

[click here for New York Times article] 

 

Market prices will not stay up forever.

 

"A half-dozen [geoduck] sold in a Hong Kong grocery

could fetch nearly enough cash

to make a four-figure mortgage payment."

[click here for Seattle Times article]

 

For a decade a small number of people have profited handsomely from China's unsustainable lust for geoducks grown in Puget Sound. For a decade agencies have allowed a small number of people to transform Puget Sound's intertidal tidelands into geoduck farms. China is changing and agency oversight in Washington needs to change with it.

All bubbles will pop.
Driven by nothing more than a superstitious belief in a geoduck's ability to endow its consumer with virility, prices in China have sky rocketed. Affordable by only the elite upper class of China it is only a matter of time before this bubble, like all unsustainable bubbles in the past, will pop. China's new president, Xi Jinping, is holding a big pin next to the geoduck bubble.

 

Only a matter of time.



 

President Xi Jinping's

gastronomic vision:

"4 dishes and a soup."



"If we don't redress unhealthy tendencies...

we will lose our roots, our lifeblood and our strength."

 

A new vision...
President Xi Jinping will be the president of China for the next decade and has made a point of curbing the wild spending of the past and displays of gluttony so prevalent by the elite in China, under the catch phrase of "4 dishes and a soup." As reported on page 46 of the February 9, 2013 issue of The Economist, "China's online public is ever more furious about a parade of corrupt officials, whose stories are far more compelling than any statistics." To help quell the public's anger and to show action is being taken, Chinese authorities are now "descending on restaurants in search of large tabs".

“Order according to your needs.”



No reservations needed.

At this Xiang Xi Qing restaurant

business is down 30%.

...followed by results.
Radical drops in the symbols of gastronomic excess are currently being experienced. As reported in today's New York Times, shark fin sales have dropped 70% and edible swallow nests were down 40%. More to the point, "So far, most victims of the frugality drive have been purveyors of the good life: high-end caterers, abalone wholesalers, five star hotels and makers of Yellow Pavilion cigarettes, the $300-carton brand coveted by the up-and-coming bureaucrats." [click here for article] Not mentioned specifically but included are geoducks.

Bubbles don't pop overnight...

Nasdaq stock market -1996 to Febrary 2000.

 

...but when they do it happens quickly.

Nasdaq stock market from February 2000 - November 2002

 

 

"weird market blips in China regarding geoducks" (Bill Taylor, September 2012)

Bubbles grow over time and never pop immediately, but when they do it is dramatic and many people are left holding nothing. Anyone who was invested between the time Alan Greenspan expressed concern about the "irrational exuberance" he saw in December of 1996, through November of 2002, watched over those 4 years as it rose 500%. In the following two years it fell below the level it was when Mr. Greenspan made his remark. In September of 2012, Bill Taylor with Taylor Shellfish noted geoduck prices in China were experiencing "weird market blips."

"Everything about geoduck is driven by China," said Mark Schaffel, who raises farmed geoducks for Olympia's Northwest Shellfish Company. (Seattle Times, April 21, 2012)
Geoduck in Washington used to be nothing more than a side ingredient used in clam chowder. Today they are an overpriced food item, selling for over $27/pound in Seattle, only because of China's "irrational exuberance." That exuberance is coming to an end, and with it, the support of the unsustainable price rise seen over the last five years. With it, the profits supporting geoduck farms throughout Puget Sound will come to an end.

Who will clean up the mess

and restore the tideland habitat 

when the geoduck market collapses?

Agencies need to act on the probability of a market collapse.
Agencies acting on permit applications cannot allow themselves to be blinded by the "irrational exuberance" seen in the current geoduck market. When prices fall, and they will, it will no longer be profitable for growers to maintain or harvest their farms. When that happens who will be responsible for restoring Puget Sound's tidelands? Washington taxpayers are already supporting the shellfish industry through state funded hatchery research and state funding of water quality testing. Minimal tax receipts are received and jobs created are jobs not wanted by the unemployed, filled instead through migrant worker programs. Will Washington taxpayers also be responsible for cleaning up the aftermath of a collapsed geoduck market?