Monterey Bay Aquarium Drops Commercially Farmed Geoduck from Green "Best Choice" Category

Commercial Geoduck 

from Washington

Loses Certification

Commercially Farmed Geoduck From Washington Lose Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch "Best Choice" Certification
Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch has dropped commercially farmed geoduck from their green "Best Choice" category due to a "...heavy reliance on plastic tubing to protect growing geoduck clams, and a better understanding of the ecosystem impacts of this practice is needed." It was a move long in coming and a welcomed recognition that this form of aquaculture is, in fact, transformative to the tidelands of Puget Sound in which it is taking place. (Note: Taylor still notes geoduck as being a "Best Choice" on their website.)

Is "Farmed Responsibly" the same?

From one to the next.

Without Monterey Bay Aquarium's certification showing that commercially farmed geoduck grown in Washington's Puget Sound is a sustainable "Best Choice", Taylor Shellfish has now sought, and achieved, a certification of "farmed responsibly" from another body, the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC). As with all standards bodies and their associated certifications, differences exist, and the two certifications are not equivalent.

Benchmarking ASC versus Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch
In a 2012 evaluation of other certification bodies, ASC Bivalve (clam) standards did not meet the green, "Best Choice" level of Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Choice. Below is the result from Monterey Bay's "Eco-certification Benchmarking Project" (page 7) which compared other certification bodies to Monterey Bay's Seafood Watch.

[Note: The ASC 'Bivalve Standard' used for certification was 'Version 1, dated January of 2012'. This was a certification standard which Bill Dewey, with Taylor Shellfish, played a direct role in developing.]

ASC versus Monetery Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch (click to enlarge)

In addition to ASC, the other certification body which Taylor Shellfish also used, the Food Alliance, while higher than ASC, was still not able to achieve the "Best Choice" level of certification.

Food Alliance versus Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch

Does it really matter? It should.

When testimony is given to Hearing Examiners about certifications to support permit applications, it should matter. At Tuesday's hearing for a geoduck farm permit in Puget Sound's Zangle Cove, Diane Cooper with Taylor Shellfish testified that all of their farms had been certified as being "sustainable" by ASC. Initially, Ms. Cooper was confused about what ASC stood for, telling the examiner it stood for "Aquaculture Sustainability Certification". She later corrected the description of what ASC actually stood for (Aquaculture Stewardship Council), but not that ASC only certified farms as being "responsible", not sustainable (from ASC's website: "ASC aims to be the world's leading certification and labelling programme [sic] for responsibly farmed seafood.")
(Hear Ms. Cooper discuss what she thought ASC stood for, here, at 20:28)

Moving aquaculture towards truly sustainable practices is a goal which all should support. Why a company moves from one certification body to another is something which should be looked at closely, whether you are a consumer or an agency listening to testimony. In this case, that Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch has dropped commercially farmed geoduck from Washington from their green, "Best Choice" certification category, should not be masked by achieving certification from another body.

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.

Montery Bay Aquarium Drops Ratings on Geoduck, Calls for Comments on Rating System

Monterey Bay Aquarium Used as a Tool by the Geoduck Industry in Permitting

After Monterey Bay Aquarium's "green" listing of geoduck was used as "proof" in a permitting process that PVC, netting, and associated CO2 emissions from vessels and overnight air freighting geoduck to China was deserving of a "green" rating for geoduck, the Coalition to Protect Puget Sound Habitat sent an email of concern (click here to read that email). As a result of that letter, Monterey Bay Aquarium dropped important ratings on gedouck farming and called for comments on revising its seafood rating system which puts geoduck farming in the "green" category (see below for email addresses and comment link). Those comments are due by December 27.

Cumulative Impacts: Drops "Data" from Green to Yellow With favorable data provided by the geoduck industry, the Monterey Bay Aquarium's "Seafood Watch" program rated geoduck raised in Puget Sound as "green." This rating, used in the permitting process to "prove" that geoduck farming has minimal impact on Puget Sound's marine habitat was challenged by the Coalition to Protect Puget Sound Habitat. That response resulted in a number of categories being downgraded, including the most critical tool used for decision making, "Data", which was dropped from "green" to "yellow" due to a lack of understanding on cumulative impacts from the habitat transformation which is occurring.

Effluent Dropped from 10 to 8
As a result of the continued loss of PVC tubing and netting from geoduck farms this rating was dropped 20%. In addition, they are now considering a separate rating category which is focused on the use and loss of plastics in the marine environment by the shellfish industry.

Habitat Impacts Not Dropped
Surprisingly, the habitat rating was not dropped. How a process which first destroys an original marine habitat area by clearing and placement of PVC tubes and netting in it, then destroys that artificial habitat when it is removed 2 years later, then destroys the habitat at harvesting, all to begin again with new PVC tubes placed in the already altered marine habitat are considered "moderate" is difficult to understand.

Wildlife Mortalities Rating Dropped
While the habitat impact category did not drop, it was recognized that the process of cleaning the beach for PVC does create mortality of intertidal species. Its not being dropped further to recognize the "mortality" of the species which have taken hold on the PVC and netting structures apparently did not happen.

Get Involved: Rating System is Being Revised
To better help the Monterey Bay Aquarium understand the level of impacts which are occurring to Puget Sound's intertidal and subtidal areas comments on their current rating system will be accepted through December 27. Their lengthy comment form is found here:
http://www.seafoodwatch.org/-/m/sfw/pdf/standard%20revision%20reference/mba_seafoodwatch_aquaculture_draft.docx?la=en

Monterey Bay Aquarium Email Contacts: Tell them Geoduck for China is not deserving of a "green" rating
 Alternatively you may email Brian Albaum <balbaum@mbayaq.org> and associates at Monterey Bay Aquarium, Santi Roberts <SRoberts@mbayaq.org>, Lisa Tucker <ltucker@mbayaq.org>, Ken Peterson <KPeterson@mbayaq.org> to express how you see geoduck farming impacting Puget Sound's marine habitat areas and beyond. Why? Beyond the aesthetics, PVC placed in the marine ecosystem, continually escaping from farms, is not healthy. That "structure", being ripped out after 2 years with all species associated with it, is not beneficial. Clearing nets of aquatic vegetation left to drift, dry and decay, is not beneficial. Unnaturally high density planting of geoduck displaces native species, lowering the diversity of native species which exists. CO2 emissions from the creation of PVC, marine vessels used, pumps used in harvesting, and overnight air freighting to China - the source of most CO2 emissions impacting the Pacific Ocean - benefits nobody.

Get involved 

Get involved. The shellfish industry is and they know what to create and who to present it to in order to get favorable ratings for one of the most transformative activities occurring in Puget Sound's intertidal area.