#1: March 28 - China's President Xi Jinping - Popping the Geoduck Bubble
"If we don't redress unhealthy tendencies...we will lose our roots, our lifeblood and our strength." China's President Xi Jinping
This post was by far the most read of any in 2013. Contained within it is explained the risk which the geoduck industry faces in relying on China's hyper-elite as the market for over 90% of the geoduck harvested from Puget Sound. Focused largely on now current President Xi Jinping it notes his plans to address "public outrage over unearned privilege" (The Economist, February 19, 2013). As reported in The New York Times, March 27, 2013, President Jinping's austerity program had already resulted in "...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." It noted agencies - and tideland owners - needed to consider the reality of a market collapse as they are pressured by the industry to expand further into the tidelands of Puget Sound.
