Imidacloprid in Willapa Bay: Comments on the DOE's Permit Denial are Due May 14

DOE Accepting Comments 

On Denial of Permit

Until May 14

Photo: Kevin Ebi/Alamy

The National Audubon Society

There's far more to Willapa Bay and Grays Harbor than non-native Pacific oysters

The Department of Ecology will accept comments on its decision to deny a permit application to a few select oyster growers in Willapa Bay and Grays Harbor. These few short-sighted growers saw the application of pesticides to shellfish beds and public waters as the only way to deal with a native species which other growers dealt with through alternative growing methods, very profitably. 

• Use DOE online comment form
• Submit your comment by E-mail: burrowing.shrimp@ecy.wa.gov
• Or submit by mail here:

Rich Doenges

Ecology Southwest Regional Office 
P.O. Box 47775
Olympia, WA 98504-7775

Questions?

Rich DoengesSouthwest Region Manager
burrowing.shrimp@ecy.wa.gov

360-407-6271

You've had your turn, now it's the public's

Shellfish growers in Willapa Bay have had multiple chances to show they are can create a sustainable model. Multiple times they have failed and simply tried to transform these waters into something they see as nothing but profit centers. In the mid-1800's they began to harvest the vast beds of native Olympia oysters to near extinction. They next tried importing Eastern oysters and found disease did not allow this non-native oyster to grow, but in the process of unpacking oysters shipped from the East Coast, they introduced the non-native Spartina grass which took decades of herbicidal application to control. Following that failure, they turned west and began importing the non-native Pacific oyster which, when unpacked from shipping crates, introduced the non-native Japanese eelgrass which, like Spartina, is being sprayed with herbicides to control. And now, pesticides to eliminate a native species.

Time to stop believing grandpa-knows-best 

Shellfish growers have had their turn. Now it's time for a new generation of forward looking growers, tribes and the public, who care about these great bodies of water and all they support (not just nonnative oysters)  to take back control and allow them to perform the great ecological services they have for thousands of years. Grandpa doesn't always know best, and in this case, it's time for him to sit down.

Get involved

It was only because a large number of people were willing to stand up to an industry used to getting its way that this short-sighted idea was brought to a stop. Groups such as the Coalition to Protect Puget Sound Habitat; The Audubon; The Exerces Society; Beyond Pesticides; the Sierra Club; and, untold numbers of individuals worked long and hard to begin bringing the control of these great estuaries back to the species so desperately in need of habitat. They were involved. You should be too, for the present and the future.

Hood Canal Experiences Bloom of Coccolithophores - If they can do it why can't I?

Coccolithophore - Emiliania huxleyi 

The great calcifiers.

The Lake Louise of Puget Sound

Satellite images from last week caught what a few may have seen while driving along Hood Canal - an immense bloom of phytoplankton, believed to be Coccolithophore. While generally known for turning vast areas of the oceans a milky white, they may also at times cause the waters to be turquoise in color, similar to the color of Lake Louise in Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada. They are made up largely of calcium carbonate shields.

Non-native Pacific Oysters:

Not so great calcifiers.

You're getting warmer

As the Coccolithophores are made up largely of calcium carbonate it is unclear why Taylor Shellfish and Coast Seafoods are having such difficulty growing non-native Pacific oysters in their hatcheries. Seen in the picture above is the concentration of the phytoplankton, located in Dabob Bay. It is the same area where non-native Pacific oyster larvae die-offs in hatcheries have caused large amounts of taxpayer dollars to be spent in an attempt to understand why. Currently, a low pH level believed to be caused by CO2 altering the chemistry of the water is believed to be the cause. A recent paper in Ocean Acidification discussed the possibility that global warming helped Coccolithophores adapt relatively quickly to the changes in chemistry brought about by lower levels of pH.

Why oh why can't I?

Native Olympia oyster on the left,

non-native Pacific oyster on the right.

Sometimes bigger isn't better.

In addition to discovering the currently accepted cause of this hatchery failure, taxpayer funding has also discovered the smaller, and native Olympia oyster appears to fare much better in this lower pH environment. Added to that list of native species which appear to be able to adapt to this environment is the Coccoliothophore phytoplankton currently thriving in Hood Canal. In the case of the shellfish industry, the non-native Pacific oyster is the oyster of choice, as it grows faster and larger than the native Olympia oyster which was over-harvested to near extinction. It may be, in the end, that being bigger isn't always better.

The big picture.

Get a larger perspective on things.

Seen in the satellite image above, taken in late July, the area of Hood Canal affected by the bloom is clearly seen. What the long term implications of the bloom are remain to be seen, except that things change, sometimes faster than we know.

Pacific Oyster Die-Off in Australia

Foodmagazine yesterday reported that Australia has experienced its second large die-off of Pacific oysters. [click here for article] It is currently unknown what the cause is, but it is unrelated to the Pacific Oyster Mortality Syndrome caused by the Ostreid herpesvirus-1 (OsHV-1) which earlier caused a mass die-off in both France and Australia. [click here for article on POM] In the case of POM, the viral outbreak has been associated with higher water temperatures and crowding. Both are related to the Pacific oyster where in Puget Sound hatchery die-offs are felt to be related to lower levels of pH being experienced.

Intensive aquaculture of non-native species is not without risk. Whether it be the non-native Pacific oyster or the genetically modified Atlantic salmon, risks to native species can be increased dramatically. It is something agencies responsible for ensuring the safety of Puget Sound's ecosystem need to consider, and something citizens need to be sure is being done.

April 25th Blue Ribbon Panel Meeting: The Million Dollar Questions

(Or why driving a car fast at night with the lights off may not be a good idea.)

Washington State's Blue Ribbon Panel on ocean acidification met on April 25th and has had powerpoint slides and verbal presentations posted to YouTube. (click here)

As the meeting unfolded it became clear these questions were important to answer (not necessarily in this order):

1.  How did molluscs survive during the last rapid rate of change in pH levels 300 million years ago and how have they survived in estuaries all these years when they encounter freshwater systems with an average pH of 7?  As noted in the first Blue Ribbon Panel meeting, not all shellfish react adversely to ocean acidification.  Currently, the non-native Pacific oyster from Japan is the primary species bred in the hatcheries which are not adapting to lowering pH levels.  Added to this is genetic manipulation creating triploid/tetraploid Pacific oysters which are even more specialized to their environment, less able to adapt to changes.  Native Olympia oysters and even geoduck appear to be far less susceptible to the changes in pH levels, most likely through natural selection from past ocean upwellings in Puget Sound.

2.  What are the drivers (sources) of ocean acidification and of those what can effectively be addressed?  Unless this question is answered based on accurate information the returns from regulations created and/or enforced may have unintended environmental and economic consequences.  As noted in the presentation, current monitoring is not accurate enough to show what level of impact the upwelling of deep sea water is having on pH levels in Puget Sound and Willapa Bay.  Few dispute there is a problem, but what additional impact power generating plants in Washington using coal or what additional impact nitrogen from waste water treatment plants plays is simply unknown.  Acting on the unknown is like driving your car at night with the headlights off on a country road.

3.  What industry other than the shellfish industry is going to be impacted by lowering pH levels?  The Blue Ribbon Panel was created because the shellfish industry found itself with a species unable to survive the hatchery environment and which was not naturally setting in Willapa Bay.  Whether any other industries are impacted by ocean acidification is important to know, whether it be directly through ocean acidification or indirectly through regulations implemented for the benefit of the shellfish industry.

Ocean acidification is a real problem.  The Blue Ribbon Panel's recommendations on source reduction, remediation and adaptation needs to be made with accurate monitoring and a clear understanding of the problem, perhaps noting this quote from Sir Maurice Yonge (1899-1986), a distinguished marine zoologist of his day on the future of oyster culture: “...the more man interferes with nature the greater become the problems he creates." (Oysters, 1960 p. 189). 

Driving a car in the dark without the lights on creates problems in decision making.  Driving it faster to meet an artificial deadline created by Governor Gregoire's leaving office only increases the risk of a poor decision leading in turn to a bigger problem.  The Blue Ribbon Panel should not be rushed into making recommendations without accurate information, something which may take more than three months to gather.