"Under the Dome": Chinese air pollution, CO2, Ocean Acidification and Geoduck Profits

The Chinese equivalent of "Silent Spring"

 

Smog in Wuhan, China

Where does that CO2 drift off to?

 

The New York Times reports on a Chinese film documentary titled "Under the Dome", a film on China's air pollution, termed "catastrophic." This documentary became viral in China, spreading throughout the country, viewed by millions wanting to know more about the obvious: China has some of the worst air pollution in the world. Viral until Friday, when "...major Chinese video websites deleted it under orders from the Communist Party’s central propaganda department."

 

It's not rocket science.

Pictures

Fewer carbonate ions = less calcification.

 

Smog, a relative term, does have as a major component, CO2. Prevailing westward winds shift those air masses of CO2 over the Pacific Ocean, where much of the CO2 is absorbed. Through a chemical process CO2 breaks down and carbonate ions are bonded to form a new molecular structure, removing those ions needed for calcification. A picture of the process is seen above, a verbal explanation is seen below. It seems to be an accepted fact by the shellfish industry that CO2, whatever the source, is causing them a problem.

 

Words

 

As a result, the shellfish industry claims it is in a state of near crisis, which may be the case. It appears that larvae of the non-native Pacific oyster cannot form shell because of the diminished supply of carbonate ions. Millions of federal and state funds are being supplied to the shellfish industry and universities in an attempt to help create more shellfish "seed" for their hoped for expansion. Once larvae have made it past their "incubation" stage they are then able to use up whatever supply of carbonate ions there may be, resulting in growth, albeit more slowly. Increasing the number of shellfish will, however, naturally decrease the number of carbonate ions available, for everything.

 

What about me? Do I get any government help?

Pteropod, at the base of the food chain.

 

Wait - there's more.

 

But, it is not only the non-native Pacific oyster which is in need of help. There are thousands of other marine species who are also in need of those diminished carbonate ions. Whether it be the shell of pteropods, a Dungeness crab or the skeleton of salmon, carbonate ions are needed throughout the diversity of life which exists in Puget Sound's marine waters. Non-native Pacific oyster "production" will use up that supply, leaving native species to fend for themselves.

 

What do you mean you don't like

a higher aragonite saturation level?

 

 

Complicating matters, however, is something pointed out by Bill Dewey with Taylor Shellfish in the January 20 edition of Hatchery International. In an article titled "Strategies to thwart ocean acidification" about how Taylor Shellfish is dealing with ocean acidification, it notes Taylor is making "...progress by keeping a very close watch on seawater chemistry and adding water treatment systems in the hatcheries." Mr. Dewey, however, points out an interesting observation when those same methods used to increase survival of the non-native Pacific oyster are used on the native geoduck. The article writes:

Dewey explained that with geoduck clams, it appears to be an overabundant ramping-up of aragonite in the water that is preventing the tiny geoduck cells from forming protective shells once they’re fertilized. That causes the ova to develop deformed and to die – usually within the first 48 hours post-fertilization.

Beyond Taylor Shellfish apparently being unsure of why geoduck don't like the modified water the non-native Pacific oyster do, the industry so impacted by Ocean Acidification has no problem profiting from the country which is most likely the biggest source of their problem: China. The industry may find that threatening to withhold the perceived source of male virility in China may give the Chinese the manhood needed to tell industry it is time to stop polluting the air, in turn the Pacific Ocean, and in turn acidifying Puget Sound.

 

 

 

 

Willapa Bay: Oyster growers ask to spray over 3,000 acres of oyster beds with imazamox.

Environmentally Sensitive Oyster Growers

Brant Geese: No time left for you,

on your way to a better place. Right?

Another chemical added to the "chemical soup" of Willapa Bay
Public Notice has been given that oyster growers ("good stewards" as they like to describe themselves) wish to spray over 3,000 acres of oyster beds with the herbicide imazamox. Their goal is to eliminate Japanese eelgrass, a naturalized species of eelgrass which has long been used a  food source for the great migrating flocks of marine birds which stop over in Willapa Bay, and by young salmon as habitat and protection on their great migration out to the ocean.

Restore habitat for native oysters

so non-native invasive Pacific oysters

can take it over?

(click here to read the complete paper)

Shellfish logic: Spray the naturalized non-native so we can grow the invasive non-native Pacific oyster

Ironic in all of the press to shape Willapa Bay into something the shellfish growers are happy with is it is for the purpose of growing non-native Pacific oysters and non-native Manila clams. In fact, Sea Grant has recently noted their concerns about restored habitat for native oysters being lost to the invasive and non-native Pacific oysters. In the article they note: 

The traits that make it so suited to culture could also make it a formidable invader..."Our worry is that native oyster restoration efforts may backfire and we will end up creating habitat for the invasive oyster,” said Danielle Zacherl, a professor at Cal State Fullerton, who has been documenting the Pacific oyster’s spread in San Diego and Orange counties and is involved in native oyster bed restoration in Southern California.

Dredging for oysters - and native eelgrass.

Collateral damage.

(click here to watch dredging in Willapa Bay)

And while we're at it, we may has well pull up the native eelgrass as well, without a permit

Equally ironic is that while the shellfish growers are spraying Japanese eelgrass, they are also dredging the bedlands for oyster and in the process removing the native eelgrass. Far more easily as they don't need a permit so are able to avoid regulatory oversight.

Sign the petition and add Willapa Bay 

in the comment section.

Get inolved - Washington's marine habitat is not for the shellfish industry alone

The shellfish industry views Washington's marine habitat as theirs alone. They have the money to spend on contract scientists, politicians, and attorneys and are relentless in their push to expand. And in this case, propose spraying over 3,000 acres with the herbicide called imazamox. One small step you can take is to sign the petition to Governor Inslee, adding that Willapa Bay is equally important to Puget Sound in the comment section.

Reminder: March 3, 5:30 PM - Charles Moore to speak on plastic pollution in the marine environment.

When: March 3, 5:30PM

Where: University of Puget Sound Rotunda (see campus map below)

1500 N. Warner Street, Tacoma, Wa

 

(click on images to enlarge)

 

Just because you can't see it

doesn't mean it's not there.

 

Get involved.

 

Reminder: March 2 - 6, Shorelines Hearings Board Hears Taylor/Seattle Shellfish and Coalition on Haley Geoduck Farm

Aquaculture being "water dependent"

does not mean "anything goes"

in Puget Sound's critical marine habitat areas.

 

Area proposed for conversion

to industrial scale geoduck farm.

More geoduck for China.

Less marine habitat for native species.

 

March 2-6, Hearing Starts at the Shoreline Hearings Board Office at 9:00am

1111 Israel Rd SW, Tumwater, WA   98501

 

Coalition Experts  

Monday, March 2

  James Brennan (Puget Sound Nearshore Scientist/Restoration Expert)

  Jim Johannessen (Puget Sound Geomorphologist/Restoration Expert)

  Dr. Gary Ritchie-Lack of Rigor of Sea Grant Geoduck Science

  Jo Jensen-Real Estate Broker--Effect of Industrial Geoduck Aquaculture on  

       Waterfront Home Values

Tuesday, March 3

   Captain Charles Moore-World Renowned Marine Plastic Debris Expert

   Kirk Kirkland-Audubon

   Rob Darling-Real Estate Broker-Effect of Industrial Geoduck Aquaculture on waterfront home values

Maybe Taylor Shellfish will explain how they can consider Scoters both a "pest" and a "friend".

"They said we were their friends in Clallam County."

Scoters feeding off of PVC pipes.





"Didn't you read the shellfish pest book?

On page 8 we're a primary pest."

"But Bill Dewey said..."

 

Get involved: Sign the petition to tell Governor Inslee to stop enabling plastic and pesticide pollution in Puget Sound.

Sign the petition to tell Governor Inslee to stop enabling plastic and pesticide pollution in Puget Sound, and stop transforming the critical marine habitat of Puget Sound. Sign here: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/267/157/164/governor-inslee-stop-enabling-plastic-and-pesticide-pollution-in-puget-sound/

It's not grandpa Taylor's oyster farm.

The intensity of aquaculture being promoted as a "preferred use" of Puget Sound's critical marine habitat is not what existed when the Shoreline Management Act was enacted. In fact, the current level of activities occurring now, and which this industry is pressing for more of, is exactly what the Shoreline Management Act was enacted to protect Puget Sound's critical marine habitat from.

Telling Governor Inslee that Taylor Shellfish

promotes clean water does not mean they

can lay plastic bags and tubes across the sediments.

Bill Dewey, Taylor Shellfish political lobbyist.

"Our industry generates as much as two Wal Mart stores!"

Well paid political lobbyists, attorneys, and contract scientists should not be allowed to convince the Governor and regulatory agencies that promoting "clean water" means they may now transform every marine habitat in Puget Sound. Nor should it mean they should be allowed to work at any hour of the night and drive wildlife out of Puget Sound.

Look - our PVC feeds Scoter (diving ducks).

"It's mutually beneficial."

Agencies believe this? And is that Scoter

on the right going under the net?

 

What money can buy from these contract scientists was seen recently in Sequim where Taylor Shellfish tried to convince Clallam County residents a 30 acre PVC forest would be good for the wildlife. Within that presentation a series of slides was put together showing Scoter diving and eating mussel off of PVC tubes. It was little more than a well staged promotion, in which the netting which blocks Scaup, and other diving avian native to Puget Sound from their food source, was pulled back. Exposed, growing on the artificial "structure" was the food source which netting is in place for up to two years to keep these native species away from. (Click here to see the entire "show" presented by Taylor's contract scientists.)

 

If you believe that, then look...

it's a flounder swimming between tubes.

This is habitat at its best.

Nets? Oh, well, we were hoping you wouldn't ask.

 

Get involved. The shellfish industry has been for a long time and they have the money to create the impression that PVC "habitat" is good for Puget Sound. Unfortunately, some politicians and some in the regulatory agencies believe it.

 

 



Reminder: March 3 - Charles Moore to speak on plastic pollution in marine waters in Tacoma.

March 3, 5:30 PM, Charles Moore will speak in Tacoma 

on plastic pollution in the marine waters.

(click to enlarge)

 

Hear how plastics are impacting our marine waters

Captain Charles Moore will present “A Month in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch” –the 2014 voyage was his tenth and longest research voyage aboard Oceanographic Research Vessel Alguita.  They discovered and walked on an island of plastic and he will show video of his tour of the island.  We also took blood from various fish species to determine the effects of living in a platicized habitat. He will discuss the difference between samples of plastic and plankton taken at the surface and at 10 meters depth.  He will also discuss the use made of drones to survey the tremendous increase in plastic in the garbage patch. Copies of his book, “Plastic Ocean”, revised with a new chapter on the health effects of plastic, will be available for $20.

www.algalita.org 

Click here for a biography of Charles Moore.

(click on picture to enlarge)

Taylor/Seattle Shellfish-Haley Geoduck Farm Hearing: March 2-6

Aquaculture being "water dependent"

does not mean "anything goes"

in Puget Sound's critical marine habitat areas.

 

Area proposed for conversion

to industrial scale geoduck farm.

More geoduck for China.

Less marine habitat for native species.

 

March 2-6, Hearing Starts at the Shoreline Hearings Board Office at 9:00am

1111 Israel Rd SW, Tumwater, WA   98501

 

Coalition Experts  

Monday, March 2

  James Brennan (Puget Sound Nearshore Scientist/Restoration Expert)

  Jim Johannessen (Puget Sound Geomorphologist/Restoration Expert)

  Dr. Gary Ritchie-Lack of Rigor of Sea Grant Geoduck Science

  Jo Jensen-Real Estate Broker--Effect of Industrial Geoduck Aquaculture on  

       Waterfront Home Values

Tuesday, March 3

   Captain Charles Moore-World Renowned Marine Plastic Debris Expert

   Kirk Kirkland-Audubon

   Rob Darling-Real Estate Broker-Effect of Industrial Geoduck Aquaculture on waterfront home values

Shellfish politics: HB 1715 - Countywide annual fees for all properties with onsite septic systems.

[Update 3/13: As HB 1715 has moved through the political process a number of changes have been made, including removing the word "shall" (requiring a $30 fee be imposed on all land owners with on-site septic systems) and replacing it with "may". Further changes and on-going negotiations indicate it is unlikely this bill will pass. The effectiveness of educating how septic systems should be maintained, including adequate record keeping by the land owner, should be given the opportunity to show they are meaningful and work before counties begin imposing another fee on landowners.]

 

We all want clean water.

Not all want to subsidize

the shellfish industry.

 

Shellfish politics - HB 1715: More taxpayer funding for the shellfish industry. The twelve counties which border Puget Sound "shall" impose a $30 fee on all on-site septic systems in the "Puget Sound basin", a term undefined in the referenced RCW (90.71.010), if HB1715 is passed.  At the committee hearing, it was confirmed this fee could be charged county wide. Bill Dewey with Taylor Shellfish acknowledged the industry's benefiting from the fee being imposed.

Are we going to be taxed if they

find out it's our fecal coliform?

Or just shot?

Whose fecal coliform is it?
Asked by committee members whether DNA testing confirmed septic systems were the source of fecal coliform problems a thud could be heard in the silence of the response. Eventually, one response was DNA testing was too expensive. In studies where DNA testing has been done the vast majority of fecal coliform was found to be wildlife (birds, seals, Orca, deer, elk, etc.), cattle and others. Humans represented only 7% of what was tested in Dungeness Bay. In Samish Bay, 17%. 
Testing results and reports are here:
see here for Dungeness sources p. 5.5:
https://app.box.com/s/y2u1t16d68cwq2npzitz716sf4n8mq21
see here for Samish Bay:
https://app.box.com/s/07xjjx8tlx1jht40hgtyls2kll7yfy3c

My $30 fee shows I need money.

 

Sorry, we don't have any.

But we did consult about it.

Low interest loans - "may consult with" is not the same as "shall".
A positive discussed at the hearing was how low interest loans being "discussed" was a part of the bill. Something, however, being "discussed" does not guarantee funding is available. Funding for loans is not guaranteed. All HB 1715 "discusses" is the counties "...may consult with the department of ecology..."

Clean water should not mean

all of Puget Sound's tidelands

should look like this.

Clean water is critical for a healthy Puget Sound. The shellfish industry is not critical for a healthy Puget Sound.
We all want clean water, none more so than the shellfish industry whose industrialization of the tidelands and navigable waters generates great profits. For what in return? Virtually nothing in property taxes. Geoducks exported to China pay little to nothing in state taxes. Jobs are menial labor, outside, at night during the winter time low tides.

Beyond messy politics - tax the beneficiaries
Requiring all county residents with onsite septic systems to pay $30 per year to support the shellfish industry is a bad idea which has lead to bad legislation. Urge your representative to vote "no" on this bill. There are other sources of funding - such as a property tax on the shellfish industry's tidelands used for growing shellfish. Find your legislator here:
http://app.leg.wa.gov/DistrictFinder/ Tell them it's time to stop subsidizing the shellfish industry.

Enviromental Politics: HB 1587 - Environmental law is not a one way street.

What's good for the goose 

should be good for the gander.

"I think we're going to need a bigger gun."

 

Find your Legislator here: http://app.leg.wa.gov/DistrictFinder/

 

House Bill 1587, currently referred to the Committee on Environment, creates a one way street to weaken the ability of citizens to challenge environmental permit approvals made by agencies. This bill, if approved, would allow a company or individual who believes they are "adversely affected" by a challenge to an approval of an environmental decision, to recover legal costs and potentially an additional $50,000, if that challenge is lost in a "judicial review." A company or individual need only show their project was delayed by the appeal of an approval .

 

Politics is messy and environmental law does not go one way

Not included in the bill is the equalizing side, which is that an individual or individuals may recover their legal fees, and potentially an additional $50,000 from a corporation or individual, if the decision to approve a project which is challenged, is overturned and the permit denied in a judicial decision. Or, if a denial of a permit on environmental grounds is challenged by a company or individual, and a judicial review affirms that denial, a citizen or citizens who support that denial are also are allowed to recover their legal fees, plus an additional $50,000.

 

It's not rocket science

To believe that corporations do not use the judicial system to establish precedent, delay implementation of tighter regulatory oversight, use the increase of legal expenses for agencies or individuals as intimidation, or lay the groundwork for weaker mitigation requirements is naïve. This bill should not launch from the pad.

 

 

 

 

 

Charles Moore to Speak on Ocean Plastics

Plastic Pollution in Puget Sound is no Better

Charles Moore, noted scientist and activist, will speak on "A Month in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch" at the University of Puget Sound on March 3 at 5:30 PM (see posters below). He will also be testifying before Washington's Shorelines Hearings Board March 3, at 9 AM, regarding the Taylor/Seattle Shellfish joint geoduck farm on the Haley family tidelands, along with James Brennan and Jim Johannessen who will be testifying March 2. 

In early December, James Brennan wrote a challenge to the Puget Sound Partnership in which he detailed why an article in Salish Sea Currents by Eric Wagner on "ecosystem services" provided by oysters was "...inaccurate, misleading, and promotes an industry that has a history of actions that run counter to protecting and restoring marine ecosystems." Mr. Brennan rightfully challenges claims by the shellfish industry, among others that they are a "cornerstone to the economy of Puget Sound" (it's not Boeing nor Microsoft) and that relying on Marlene Meaders, a consultant for the shellfish industry, for insight without checking the facts skews his article to one being little more than a promotion for an industry doing long term damage to critical marine habitats.