Chinese Ban of Geoduck Should be No Surprise to Agencies or the Industry

[Update 12/17: The Olympian has reported that the Department of Health has narrowed down the area which the geoduck with elevated levels of Paralytic Shellfish Toxins (PST) were harvested from. One is in Poverty Bay, located north of the old ASARCO plant. The actively harvested "Redondo" tract was closed in 5/31 due to elevated levels of PST (97) then reopened again 6/14. It was unknown whether elevated arsenic levels were found in this shipment, but in the 1997 NOAA report noted below the highest levels of Arsenic in sediments were found in core samples 5 and 6 (see graph in post below).  As noted as recently as this month in the on-line version of Science of the Total Environment: "The American Smelting and Refining Company (ASARCO) smelter in Ruston, Washington, contaminated the south-central Puget Sound region with heavy metals, including arsenic and lead."]

 



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Is this geoduck something you'd want to eat?

The Chinese now say no.

Why so surprised?
The recent ban on importing shellfish harvested from Washington state due to elevated levels of Arsenic and paralytic shellfish toxins (PST) found in geoduck shipments should come as no surprise to agencies nor the industry. In fact, it is better to ask the question of why it took so long for the Chinese to get upset. Fingers pointing to whether the Chinese know how to test shellfish should also be directed to those agencies responsible for overseeing food safety in the United States and shellfish harvested from Puget Sound.

Measurements of Arsenic in Puget Sound Core Samples

from "Historical Trends in the 

Accumulation of Chemicals in Puget Sound." (1997)

Measurements of Arsenic at various depths. Estimated year

accumulated on left, depth on right, level at the bottom.

p. 25 of NOAA Technical Memorandum

(click to enlarge)

Elevated levels of Arsenic in Puget Sound sediments is old news to NOAA
Since 1997 NOAA has been aware of elevated levels of Arsenic in Puget Sound's sediments, concentrated highest in those sediments north of the old ASARCO plant in Tacoma. Operating for almost 100 years, the once largest smokestack in the United States discharged arsenic, lead, and a variety of other chemicals into the air. From there the prevailing winds carried the discharge plume north over Puget Sound where the chemicals and metals gradually settled out of the air into the waters of Puget Sound and onto the adjacent lands where they sometimes remained, other times washed into the various bodies of water, both fresh and marine. Rainfall only hastened the deposits. As seen in the graphs above, over time sedimentation buried those deposits. But they did not go away, leaving the highest concentrations remaining in depths of 30 to 50 centimeters, or 1 to 2 feet undisturbed. Until geoduck harvesting began.

Commercial geoduck harvesting

from subtidal sediments.

 



Geoduck burrow into deeper sediments which, when harvested, overturn those sediments and reintroduce them to the water column
Geoduck are the largest burrowing clam in the world, burrowing into the sediments to depths of 3 feet. There they grow up to 7 pounds in weight. During harvest, a water jet is used to dislodge the sediments surrounding the geoduck from which it is pulled. As seen in the short video clip above, all sediments down to the depth of the geoduck are disturbed. When the geoduck is pulled out large amounts of sediment enter the water column, along with anything else they may happen to contain. From there they drift and settle, in some cases being taken in and absorbed by marine species in the area, such as geoduck. Through their indiscriminate filtering, metals and chemicals may be absorbed and retained, in turn taken in by those who may happen to eat parts in which they are retained.

Just because you don't see it

doesn't mean it's not there.

Who tests the sediments and how deeply are they tested? Oakland Bay's lesson
The Department of Ecology generally oversees sediment testing. However, testing is typically within the upper few centimeters, not deeper where past industrial activities may have resulted in higher discharges than currently taking place and where things may have settled, to be buried over time. In addition to the Arsenic found in the 1997 report to NOAA is what was found in the deeper sediments of Oakland Bay near Shelton. Currently producing the largest amount of Manila clams in the United States, the deeper sediments were found to contain elevated levels of Dioxins. Because Manila clams do not burrow as deeply as geoduck it is currently believed these Dioxins will remain in the deeper sediments. But it is an example of what lies below the surface.

Note: For a more current study on sediments and current concerns over increasing "non-point" pollution problems from urban runoff, read "Historical Inputs and Natural Recovery Rates for Heavy Metals and Organic Biomarkers in Puget Sound during the 20th Century".

Alexandrium cantenella, the

source of PSP toxins

Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning toxins and subtidal tract closures occur often, are occurring now, and is not something new
It should be clear from the number of subtidal tracts which close, open, and close again due to elevated levels of PST that Puget Sound is dynamic and testing for PST is critical. Through the past six months alone there have been over 15 subtidal tracts which were closed to harvesting due to elevated levels of paralytic shellfish poisoning toxins. Currently there are four active tracts closed.

Subtidal tracts closed due to

paralytic shellfish poisoning toxins

(click here for map/tracts)

Since September 10, Wyckoff Shoal has

opened/closed numerous times

Timing is everything
The challenges of timing and testing are easily seen in tracts closed, opened and closed again. Seen above are two of the currently active subtidal tracts in south Puget Sound which are currently closed - Wyckoff Shoal and Fox Island South. Of importance is the number of times Wyckoff Shoal has been closed and reopened over the past 10 weeks. Closed 9/10, it was reopened again on 9/26. 10/2 it was closed again and reopened 10/29, only to be closed 12/4. Just east of Wyckoff shoals is Fox Island whose active tract was closed 9/13. While the above demonstrates testing is active, it more importantly demonstrates the dynamics of Alexandrium populations and the significance of missing one day, the result being geoduck with elevated levels of PSP toxins arriving in China. Of most significance is the closures/openings demonstrate there are active populations of Alexendrium blooming throughout Puget Sound (see table below for tracts which have been closed, some multiple times, due to elevated levels of PST). *For a map click here where you can enter the name of the tract to find the location.

Redondo (closed 5/31, opened 6/14); Lisabeulla (closed 6/14, opened 8/27, closed 11/18, opened 11/25); Protection Island (closed 6/25, opened 9/10, closed 10/14, opened 10/21); Manzanita (closed 7/1, opened 7/8, closed 9/16, opened 9/23, closed 9/30, opened 10/28, closed 11/12); Buck Bay (closed 7/23, opened 8/6); Siebert Creek (closed 8/12); Fox Island (closed 9/13); Agate Pass/Sandy Hook (closed 11/5); Indianola (closed 11/12, opened 11/19); Apple Cove (closed 12/9)

Testing for Alexendrium Cysts in Puget Sound

Alexandrium and PST no longer appears to be a warm water problem in Puget Sound
From the University of Washington on the Clifford A. Barnes and Alexandrium: We are working on mapping the distribution of Alexandrium catenella cysts in the surface sediments of Puget Sound. This dinoflagellate (type of phytoplankton) has a life cycle where it spends the winter months as a cyst in the sediment and then when conditions are right (warmer for instance) can germinate into the water column and reproduce.  [click here for study site] Beyond the closures of subtidal tracts, the awareness of the problem which Puget Sound has regarding Alexandrium and PST is found further in the testing which the University of Washington is doing. Through use of the Cliffor A. Barnes, they are taking core samples throughout Puget Sound to try and determine population "seed beds" of the cysts from which Alexandrium blooms. What is not clear is whether the current closures of subtidal tracts during the colder months means that Alexandrium and PST are no longer a warm water problem.

Poaching and greed presents a problem for everyone, not just the Chinese
On top of the agency awareness of chemcials within the deeper sediments in which geoduck grow and the apparent year round problem which Alexandrium and PST are creating comes poaching. Driven by the unsustainable price of geoduck, based on only what the Chinese are willing to pay, comes greed to "grab what you can when you can." It is next to impossible to guarantee no wild geoduck are harvested illegally. It is too easy for divers to work under the cover of night, hidden in the fog of south Puget Sound, to harvest wild geoduck. Inaccurate reporting of harvest volumes allows poached geoduck to be claimed as legally harvested and exported, arriving on China's doorstep with elevated levels of Arsenic and PST. When tested and found, is it any wonder China questions who is doing what?

This bubble too shall pop

 

The geoduck industry is not sustainable and it will collapse on itself, leaving Puget Sound's tidelands the victim
Whether it be the current situation or the elevated level of education making the Chinese population aware that geoduck are not the equivalent of Viagra, this bubble too shall pop. Left in its wake will be thousands of PVC used currently to grow intertidal, and perhaps soon subtidal geoduck. A few will have been made wealthy, able to walk away from long term leases and the mess left, leaving the taxpayer and tideland owners to clean up afterwards. Maybe some should be thanking China for bringing this to a head.

Who gets to clean up the mess?

Fishtrap Loop Geoduck Farms Being Considered by Taylor Shellfish

Update 9/1: 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 today 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 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 ("There's a virility claim, need I say more?" Wall Street Journal). (See also March 28, 2013 post on how China's new leader, Xi Jinping is impacting the lavish life styles corruption has brought to the Chinese population.)

 

This isn't going to help you.

 

 

Want to help? Consider donating to Case Inlet Shoreline Association who, in partnership with the Coalition to Protect Puget Sound Habitat has appealed four Thurston County geoduck permits before the Shorelines Hearings Board. Donations may be made here:

http://www.caseinlet.org/Join_Us.php

 

Neighbors Report Taylor Shellfish Interest

in Fishtrap Delta Area For Future Geoduck Farms 

(Note: The above only represents an example

of what 2 tideland parcels planted with geoduck

would look like in the delta area.)

 



It has been reported that Taylor Shellfish has approached tideland owners north of Fishtrap Loop NE in Olympia about leasing their tidelands for geoduck farms. Ironically, at the same time Taylor Shellfish has begun encouraging neighbors to sign long term leases, they and Arcadia Point Seafoods argued before the Shorelines Hearings Board that their proposed geoduck farms on the Lockhart and Thiesen parcels to the east are small, isolated farms which should not trigger the need for a cumulative impacts analysis.

Note: Taylor Shellfish has apparently offered "tours" of a local geoduck farm to show how minimal the impact is. It is unclear how, with the daylight minus tides of the year now past they intend to do that, unless they have acquired a glass bottom boat. 

Taylor's Lockhart and Arcadia's Thiesen

Proposed Geoduck Farms (on the right)

Currently Before the Shorelines Hearings Board

"What's the big deal? It's only 2 small farms."

Agencies should not be blinded by industry projections
Not considering this future and significant expansion in current permitting is exactly what the Coalition to Protect Puget Sound Habitat and Case Inlet Shorelines Association have been pointing to in their presentations on permits before county planning commissions and in their appeals before the Shorelines Hearings Board: shellfish operators have plans for significant expansion. Agencies cannot put blinders on when examples such as this exist. Cumulative impacts from multiple farms operating on multiple schedules create on ongoing impact to Puget Sound's nearshore environment. It is a permanent and ongoing conversion. It is not, as industry likes to describe, a "once every 5 year" event. It is a development of tidelands of a type Puget Sound has never seen before. The area within what we will call "Fishtrap Cove" alone is approximately 10 acres in size.

Welcome to the neighborhood.
"I'm here to stay."
We are too. And so are our children.

"Is this where we're supposed to be planting?"

Tideland owners should not be blinded by promises unfulfilled
"Fishtrap Cove" tidelands are made up of 24 separate parcels. Some owners may find Taylor Shellfish's golden promise of "riches beyond imagination" compelling. But they should first realize it is Taylor Shellfish, not them who is becoming wealthy off their tidelands. Taylor Shellfish no longer has any tidelands to develop. Past rates of only 10% grossly undervalue tideland values. Taylor Shellfish cares little for the transformation they and others in the industry are causing. There is, however, a large number who feel the value of Puget Sound's tidelands is not found in the number of PVC pipes you can place in them.

Secondly, for those who find the promise of wealth alluring, they should understand the risk they take on when signing long term contracts for speculative commodities, which geoducks are. When the geoduck market collapses, and it will as production in Alaska, Canada, and elsewhere comes on line, they will not receive those checks to "put your children through college with" or "build your dream home with." They will be stuck with trying to figure out who is responsible for removing the netting and tubes which are abandoned as industry players find they have taken on too much debt. In the mean time, those who chose to convert their tidelands to geoduck production also become responsible for their increased property taxes, something clearly written into the current leases, not the geoduck operators.

Finally, geoduck are not all created equal. Many are not accepted as "Grade 1" geoduck but are instead of far less value. Darker shells, smaller necks, and smaller size all decrease the value received. This was spelled out in a letter years ago from Seattle Shellfish to those it leased tidelands from who wondered why their checks were so small.* Poaching of geoduck, a real and increasing threat no matter what the location, creates additional risk for a smaller check. There are no guarantees the transformation of a tideland will pay for a college education, let alone the increase in property taxes.

*From a letter to those Seattle Shellfish leased tidelands from: "too much seaweed  piled up and decaying on the beach can even kill a 3-4 year old juvenile geoduck. There are also significant fresh water inflows, particularly in the winter, ...which can cause significant mortalities for young geoduck . This has resulted in widely varying success from...beach-to-beach" "In general we're seeing darker animals...and a correspondingly smaller prices for harvested geoduck because of the color."

 

The conversion of Puget Sound's tidelands.

Are state tidelands being removed from the public's use before requiring replanting of subtidal areas stripped of wild geoduck a sign of management or political pressure?
Currently, geoduck farmers are seeking out the few remaining state owned tidelands there are for further growth. Beyond the risk this adds of increased "inventory" driving down prices, it also removes from the public's use those few remaining tidelands available to the public at low tide, whether accessible by boat or uplands. Further, should DNR really consider leasing intertidal tidelands when they are currently stripping geoduck from large subtidal tracts of tidelands and not requiring replanting as they do their forest lands? If a diver is able to harvest geoduck in subtidal waters they surely are able to replant. They do in Canada and Alaska. That would be considered managing state assets for the public, not removing the few public tidelands still available for the public's enjoyment, to benefit a politically astute industry.

Get involved
You can help by donating time and/or financial resources to those who care about Puget Sound's tidelands. Currently the Case Inlet Shoreline Association is helping ensure the permitting of geoduck farms considers more than what well paid attorneys and contract scientists present to the counties. Donations may be made on their site:
http://www.caseinlet.org/Join_Us.php
Additional information may be found on the Coalition to Protect Puget Sound Habitat here:
http://coalitiontoprotectpugetsoundhabitat.org/



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?