Reminder: Taylor Shellfish Speaks on why 30 Acres of PVC in Dungeness Bay is a Good Idea

Feb 11 at 2 p.m.
Guy Cole Convention Center, 202 N. Blake Ave., Sequim, WA

It's Taylor Shellfish's Turn: Tell Us Why a 30 Acre Geoduck Farm is Good for the Dungeness Bay

Special Note: Meeting location is changed to Guy Cole Convention Center, 202 N. Blake Ave., Feb 11 at 2 p.m. in order to accommodate the expected crowd. (read article in Sequim Gazette here)

 

The river's restored, wetlands are functioning,

the outflow of fresh water is clean. Hear why PVC pipes

in the tidelands are a good idea.

 

 

Now it's Taylor's turn

On February 11 Taylor Shellfish has their opportunity to explain why a 30 acre geoduck farm in Dungeness Bay is a good idea. This follows a standing room only presentation earlier by citizens and scientists who feel it is not a good idea. (read article about earlier meeting here - note that the meeting location mentioned was changed to the above)

 

Good for the economy, good for jobs, good for Taylor.

Good for Dungeness Bay?

 

 

A million dollars spent for a million PVC tubes

Topics they will try to discuss include why it's a good idea to spend multiple millions of dollars to restore the habitat of lower Dungeness River, and then fill the tidelands with >40,000 PVC pipes/acre on the proposed 30 acre farm.

 

$7 million to restore wetlands and floodplains

so tidelands may be populated with PVC pipes.

(click here to read article on "funding boost")

 

"Impacts are local and short term" - unless you have a farm with sections in "rotation" such that harvesting may occur all the time.

Why it's a good idea to place a geoduck farm next to tidelands acquired by WDFW, considered to be part of a "...significant habitat area for a wide diversity of wildlife, fish populations, including marine mammals, seabirds, migratory shorebirds, migratory and breeding waterfowl, neotropical migrants, salmon, shellfish and Dungeness crab." (From WDFW 'SOUTH PUGET SOUND & NORTH OLYMPIC WILDLIFE AREAS 2014 MANAGEMENT PLAN UPDATE' page 3)

 

WDFW recently acquired tidelands

adjacent to Taylor's proposed farm.

 

Comment on this one.

Hear why it's a good idea for the Army Corps to spend tax payer dollars on re-establishing old river channels and flood plains in order to help establish habitat critical for salmon, only to have the salmon's transition zone where fresh and salt water mix be clouded with sediments during harvest.

 

Army Corps' preferred alternative.

(click here to comment on restoration plan)

 

Is any of that habitat supporting wildlife Taylor Shellfish considers a pest?

Hear whether Taylor Shellfish will consider any of the wildlife supported by the habitat being restored or which now exists are on their list of "pests." (Some ask what native wildlife in Puget Sound don't they consider a pest.) The Dungeness crab noted in the WDFW document above, and almost everything else noted, are on the list. [Note: To read the shellfish industry's guide to what it considers pests and a hindrance to their profits, click here.]

 

Are these restored areas supporting any pests

Taylor Shellfish doesn't like?

 

 

Hear the best paid experts talk about why aquaculture is a preferred use, which logically means any way to grow shellfish is ok.

The public is invited and is encouraged to attend. Presentations by Taylor Shellfish and their "experts" are always well orchestrated and meaningful. It may even be possible Taylor Shellfish will be offering free oysters to those in attendance. Be early to guarantee a seat and bring your cameras to record the event.

 

 



 

 

Vibriosis: Washington's Department of Health Proposes Becoming Proactive to Protect the Health of the Public

Vibrio parahaemolyticus:

the $10,000,000 bug.

 

Better late than never

After failed years of trying to decrease the number of reported cases of vibriosis caused by oysters harvested from Washington state's water, the Department of Health has decided to become proactive. They should be congratulated. Now, instead of waiting for people to become ill and then retroactively closing harvest areas, they will now require harvest areas to close if temperatures reach levels they deem warm enough, detailed in their recently released Vp Control Plan.

Note: Comments on the VP Control Plan will be taken through February 25. To submit comments on the plan, click here.

“We’re excited about the change."

Bill Dewey, Taylor Shellfish

 

A rule even the shellfish industry likes?
Anyone involved in trying to regulate the shellfish industry is fully aware of their being "troubled" over regulations which impact their operations. But in this case, Bill Dewey with Taylor Shellfish was quoted in the Skagit Valley Herald as saying, "We're excited about the change." If it works as anticipated, the estimated 11,000* people who contracted vibriosis from Washington oysters will also be excited, for those who do not contract the disease in the future.

*The Skagit Valley Herald noted 76 reported cases of vibriosis occurred last year. According to the Department of Health, the Center for Disease Control estimates there are 156 unreported cases for each reported case.

The $10,000,000 bug
Using figures developed by the Center for Disease Control, the DOH has estimated vibriosis creates a $10,000,000 medical expense annually for those who contract the disease. This figure includes hospitalization and appointments with doctors. DOH anticipates a dramatic drop in that expense - if the plan works as they hope.

The cousin nobody wants

is now in Puget Sound.

A cousin nobody wants lurking in the shadows
DOH deciding to become proactive will have benefits far greater than preventing cases of vibriosis from Vp. A cousin to Vp in the Vibrio family of bacteria carried in oysters is one far more deadly, Vibrio vulnificus. Until now this bacterium was only a significant problem in oysters harvested from the warmer Gulf Coast waters, so much so that California banned their import during the warm summer months. Until 2 years ago it was not felt to be anything oysters from Puget Sound's cooler waters would carry. But that changed in December of 2013 when DOH issued a report confirming that Vv had been found in Washington oysters. As temperatures continue to rise and waters continue to warm, the reality grows that Vv will show up in more and more oysters harvested from Washington and become a far more significant problem than vibriosis.

Is a thermometer really an added expense to complain about?
Some are concerned the added cost of a thermometer, and its having to be calibrated to ensure accuracy, is an expense some shellfish growers may not be able to afford. Perhaps those shellfish growers should ask the families of those who have become ill with vibriosis, or worse, whether a thermometer is really an expense to complain about.

Tacoma's News Tribune on Pierce County's SMP Update Meeting: Citizens want shellfish harvesting restricted.

You can "just say no" to geoduck farming.

 

 

Tacoma's The News Tribune writes about Pierce County's Shoreline Master Program update meeting held at Peninsula High School on February 2. The article's title clearly states how people feel about geoduck farming in Puget Sound's tidelands: Restrict commercial shellfish harvesting.

 

NAMBI - Not against my business or industry

The article contains the not so veiled threat from Taylor Shellfish's Diane Cooper who stated Pierce County will have to prove that any shellfish harvesting prohibition is based on the “best available science.” This follows their attorney's 156 page missive explaining why Taylor Shellfish is "troubled" over being regulated.

 

Put geoduck farming where

you don't destroy the habitat?

How about the Tacoma tideflats.

 

You can "just say no"

The article quotes newly elected Pierce County Councilman Derek Young as saying, "You can't say no to geoducks" and they would just have to "...locate (geoduck farms) in areas that don’t destroy the habitat.” Perhaps better put is to put them in areas where it doesn't matter if the habitat is destroyed, such as the Tacoma tide flats. You can just say no and you can regulate the shellfish industry. Selling geoduck to China is not that important.

 



Read more here: http://www.thenewstribune.com/2015/02/02/3620223/restrict-commercial-shellfish.html#storylink=cpy

 

 

Pierce County Shoreline Master Program Update: Meeting Feb 2, 5:30PM, Peninsula High School



Reminder: Pierce County SMP hearing Feb 2, 5:30PM, at Peni...nsula High School, Auditorium, 14105 Purdy Drive NW, Gig Harbor, WA 98332. Pierce County notes: "Now the committee wants to gather feedback on those [amendments] before sending a final version to the full County Council." (scheduled for March 10)
For current amendments, see here:
http://www.piercecountywa.org/index.aspx?NID=3771

 

Good morning neighbor: Sunday morning, 7AM

 

Industrial operations in Puget Sound tidelands at all hours of the day and night is not the "balance" the Shoreline Management Act was created for.

 

If you can dive harvest there is no

reason for midnight geoduck harvesting.

Sediment plumes are from 2 divers

from each raft, harvesting geoduck.

Yes, we see you and yes, we hear you.

So does what's left of the wildlife.

Shellfish operator at 4AM

with floodlights. Good for wildlife?

 

Get involved. The shellfish industry is, and has been for years and what they see in France is what they think is good for Puget Sound.

 

Mussel platforms in France.

 

 

Lower Dungeness River: Army Corps Releases Environmental Assessment for River Restoration for Comment

Why bother with restoring the Dungeness River
if you are only going to be putting
millions of PVC tubes and "predator" netting

in the intertidal marine habitat you are trying to improve?
[Note: This site supports this restoration proposal and
the Wild Olympics campaign, but it does not
support Taylor Shellfish's geoduck farm.]

Is this the balance the SMA is intended to ensure?

(click to enlarge)
 

DPR/EA Released for Comments (email: melissa.l.leslie@usace.army.mil)
The Army Corps of Engineers has released a draft Integrated Detailed Project Report and Environmental Assessment (DPR/EA) (6Mb file) for the Lower Dungeness River Ecosystem Restoration Project near Sequim. This restoration project would remove an existing Corps levee and reconnect the river to an historic floodplain and re-establish historic side channel and back channel habitat "critical for fish spawning, rearing, and refuge." Comments will be accepted until February 18. (Information on how to comment may be found by clicking here.)

Area of restoration preferred.

(click to enlarge)

Restoration of one habitat should not mean another is transformed into PVC and netting - for years on end. Recent tideland leases extend into 2050, encumbering tidelands for decades.
At the same time this project and other tribal and taxpayer funded restoration projects - which reach into the multiple millions of dollars - is occurring, Taylor Shellfish is proposing to place millions of PVC tubes, covered with netting in the delta area created by this river to grow geoduck for Chinese consumption. The ongoing cycle destroys/transforms marine habitat multiple times.

 Habitat Transformation Stage 1: >38,000 PVC/acre

are inserted and covered with "predator" netting.

Habitat Transformation Stage 2: After ~2 years, mussels

barnacles and aquatic vegetation has taken hold 

on the thousands of PVC tubes and "predator" netting. 

They are removed, leaving the monolithic population 

of geoduck in its place, sometimes covered

for another year with "predator" netting.

Habitat Transformation Stage 3: Harvest

Sediments to 3' in depth are liquefied

to remove the geoduck, leaving 

a barren moonscape in its path.

Months later, the PVC and "predator" netting return,

to begin the habitat transformation cycles again.

 

Restoration and protection of the Olympic Peninsula's watersheds and resources does not end at the high tide line.

Taylor Shellfish and Clallam County planners believing there is nothing wrong in spending multiple millions of dollars to restore the lower Dungeness River so millions of PVC pipes and netting may cover an area in the intertidal tidelands stretches reason. Taylor Shellfish supporting the expansion of wilderness areas and wild/scenic rivers through the Wild Olympics campaign "...so that shellfish companies can continue to grow..." (Bill Taylor on why he supports the Wild Olympics) should not be used as a veil to hide the reality of how geoduck farming is transforming the intertidal habitat areas of Puget Sound.

 

Joan Thomas, 1931-2011

Helped negotiate and pass the SMA.

"I do not read the original intent or the original guidelines

[of the SMA] to promote the [shellfish] industry

as we know it today." Joan Thomas, 1991

 

The Shoreline Management Act and shellfish aquaculture are no longer in-synch.

When the Shoreline Management Act was passed aquaculture was perceived as benign. In 1991 one of its original authors, Joan Thomas, recognized the transformation which had occurred in the industry. It has continued to evolve into the very thing which the SMA is in place to protect part of Puget Sound from: the fragmentation and fracturing of the intertidal area. Studies to date have looked at small and discrete farms which in no way compare to the current proposals nor methods used. That Taylor Shellfish sees nothing wrong with an operation of this type, of this size, and in this location only shows what it has evolved into.

January 28: Fudge Point State Park Public Hearing - Help create a marine park for everyone.

Get involved in what future generations have access to.

Wednesday, January 28

6:30 to 8:30 p.m

Harstine Community Hall

3371 E. Harstine Island Rd. N., Harstine Island

Submit Comments by Clicking Here (reference "Fudge Point State Park")

 

Fudge Point State Park: Providing 

access to Puget Sound's shorelines for everyone.

One of the last undeveloped pieces of shoreline

and upland areas available for the public to enjoy.*

Washington State Parks has scheduled a public meeting on Harstine Island to discuss the future development of Fudge Point State Park. A series of land acquisitions has created what can become one of the greatest state parks in Washington, providing access to the uplands and shorelines of Puget Sound for everyone. Anyone who believes access to south Puget Sound should be an experience made available to everyone should become involved.

Looking east to Mount Ranier and north

from the shoreline of Fudge Point State Park.

Included within Fudge Point State Park are over 3,200 feet of Puget Sound's shoreline, one of the last shorelines in south Puget Sound of this size which the public will have access to. The views from the shoreline are spectacular, with Mt. Ranier to the east and the Olympics to the north. A fresh water outflow from the upland area has created both a marsh and a delta area over which the tide ebbs and flows, exposing a diversity of life unique to south Puget Sound, including a working geoduck farm.

A freshwater outflow from the upland area.

 

 

As proposed, the shoreline area would remain undeveloped in order to retain the sensitive ecological functions of the wetland marsh area and intertidal area. Both are areas where fresh and salt water mix, resulting in a unique habitat supporting both upland, fresh and salt water species. It is one of the few such areas which remains undeveloped and able to be experienced by the public.

 

Fudge Point State Park: Current

and future ownership.

 

 

 

Additional information about Fudge Point State Park may be found by clicking here. Also found on are comments which have already been submitted which focus primarily on infrastructure concerns (roads and the bridge to Harstine Island) and shellfish companies being worried about poaching on tidelands adjacent to the state park owned lands. The latter has had proposals for exchanging privately owned tidelands for state owned tidelands elsewhere, an easy resolution to the concern. Infrastructure concerns are met by increased revenues generated by visitors which both help to increase the economic activity of the local economy, and perhaps more importantly, to help diversify the economic drivers within the local economy, something Mason County would be helped by. Some of the remaining comments express a desire to retain the natural character of the shoreline so future generations are able to experience an undeveloped stretch of shoreline habitat, and a desire retain the currently rural environment experienced by the local residents. Finally, the types of overnight camping facilities are also commented on.

 

Take the opportunity to help create what can become one of the great shoreline experiences for future generations. Get involved. Many others are.

For additional  questions contact:
Michael Hankinson, Parks Planner
Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission
PO Box 42650, Olympia, WA 98504-2650
Phone (360) 902-8671 FAX (360) 586-0207
email: michael.hankinson@parks.wa.gov

*Currently, Taylor Shellfish has a geoduck farm in the tideland area below mean low tide. It is exposed rarely and, as Taylor Shellfish has pointed out many times, geoduck farming is compatible with the public's use of tidelands. It is hoped that the state and Taylor Shellfish will ultimately resolve whatever perceived conflict there may be through a 1031 exchange with tidelands elsewhere.

Fudge Point, June 2013, looking north.

Tidelands from mean low tide to extreme low tide

are owned by Taylor Shellfish. Higher tidelands

are owned by Washington State Parks.

 

Willapa Bay: Taylor Shellfish to increase oyster production, happy with chemical applications



Ocean acidification not so bad after all?

The Coast River Business Journal writes that Taylor Shellfish will be increasing its oyster production in Willapa Bay by 40%, equal to roughly 4 million oysters. Apparently ocean acidification isn't too large of a problem now.

Why worry about burrowing shrimp

and Japanese eelgrass

if you can grow oysters this way?



Floats and oyster bags "create" an

oyster "unique" to Willapa Bay.

 

A Pacific oyster is a Pacific oyster, cupped or not

In the article it is noted that Taylor Shellfish will be expanding their oyster lines from 1,000 to 1,400. Each oyster line has 39 grow out bags with a float attached, each containing roughly 250 oysters at harvest. Through the lifting and falling, the edges of the shells of the non-native Pacific oysters' are broken off, resulting in a thicker shell with a more cup-like shape. This alteration has allowed Taylor to take the liberty of branding it as a "Shigoku" and selling it for $1.25 versus .85 for the Pacific oyster in its "normal" shell.

The old oyster in a new shell 

needs a new box.

Marketing 101: Differentiation

 

A new shell in a pretty box and a hint of Jerusalem artichoke
The end result of Taylor's marketing department is a Pacific oyster in a smaller shell in a new box. While still the same non-native Pacific oyster from Japan, the ability of the tumbler process to disfigure the shell has created a different enough looking oyster that it is described by Rowan Jacobsen (oyster marketing expert) as, "A small, dense, cornucopia of an oyster. A light, clean taste of cucumber and salt, with a finish of water chestnut and Jerusalem artichoke." It may be something else Mr. Jacobsen is tasting.

"It's the water."

Unfortunately, it's not from artesian wells

but from a "chemical soup."

 

Spraying chemicals into Willapa Bay creates a "chemical soup"

Taking a cue from the now defunct Olympia Brewery, the marketing department of Taylor Shellfish has attempted to create an oyster with a unique taste based on its "merroir" (location where it is grown, with the waters and oyster creating something unique, like a wine). Unfortunately, in the case of Willapa Bay, Washington state's Office of the Attorney General has described Willapa Bay as a "chemical soup", primarily the result of the application of a variety of chemicals by the shellfish industry. These chemicals have been used to control the native burrowing shrimp and the Japanese eelgrass, both considered by wildlife experts to be important food sources for both migrating birds and Green Sturgeon.

 

Would spraying chemicals into Willapa Bay

be needed if long line tumbling is used by all?

 

The short irony of the long line tumbler

What is ironic about the article quoting Bill Taylor and the use of longlines and tumblers is that this method of growing oysters would end up being a means to avoid the application of chemicals to Willapa Bay. The Japanese eelgrass and burrowing shrimp are described by the industry as being a problem when oysters are grown on the bottom. As Mr. Taylor notes, they sink and become smothered. If that's the case, why not simply do what he is doing and grow them above the sediments? Perhaps the unique taste of Taylor's Willapa Bay oysters would be even better, being grown in something closer to the artesian springs of Olympia Beer. Or maybe that "taste of cucumber and salt, with a finish of water chestnut and Jerusalem artichoke" is from something being added to the water.

 

Reminder: January 10, Sequim, forum on Taylor Shellfish's proposed 30 acre geoduck farm

What's wrong with this picture?

Nothing if you're Taylor Shellfish.

Everything if you care about

Puget Sound's critical marine habitat.

An informational meeting will be held at the Dungeness Schoolhouse, 2781 Towne Road, Sequim, from 2-4 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 10, to discuss implications of Shelton-based Taylor Shellfish Farms’ 30-acre geoduck operation proposal. Read more in the Sequim Gazette.

Should "improved water quality" mean 

this is what can happen in the marine sediments?

Taylor Shellfish thinks so.

(from the Sequim Gazette)

Monterey Bay Aquarium Webinar on Geoducks Happening Now

January 8, 3:30
Monterey Bay Aquarium webinar on geoducks happening now (1/8, 3:30).
Dial 1-877-668-4493 to connect. Meeting ID number is: 629 152 989
https://montereybayaq.webex.com/  (click on SFW Geoduck Webinar)