60 days to appeal Pacific County's SMP update, starting from January 17.
HATs off to the County Commissioners
January 17 Pacific County's SMP update was accepted. Some are now wondering how it was that one area of Pacific County's shoreline is defined as being at the "Highest Astronomical Tide" (HAT) line, and other areas are the Ordinary High Water, typically defined as the average of the highest of the high tides. Two Districts, those represented by Commissioners Ayers and Rogers, do not have that definition (HAT) adapted.
Shifting lines in the sand, shifting times.
The difference can, in some cases, be very significant, impacting where buffer lines are set and developments occur. Using the Department of Ecology's definition, the line is towards the water, in essence providing upland owners a larger parcel and buffers beginning further towards the water. In the case of the HAT, that line is where the highest tide of the year (or perhaps decade, or maybe within the National Tidal Datum Epoch period - an 18 year period of time) is. How one determines that is a surveyor's dream, as they will have to spend hours researching the topography of the land and the cycles of the moon/sun to determine just where that line is. Or wait all year for the highest tide (assuming it is an annual event they are talking about).
Making waves in a storm.
To compound the problem, there is an issue over whether the line being pushed even higher by waves needs to be considered. If one is able to determine the HAT line, what happens if there is a storm which shows the water is actually rising higher? And what if there happens to be a low pressure event offshore which coincides with the HAT, in turn, pushing that line even higher?
Get involved. The seemingly arbitrary adoption of shorelines in two districts being defined as the Highest Astronomical Tide is going to cause Pacific County and property owners challenges as they move forward.
(SMP change from Dan Driscoll, Oysterville Seafarms at 360-244-0736)
Monday, February 26, 2018
Saturday, February 24, 2018
Cooke Aquaculture's Omega Protein Complains of Chesapeake Bay Forage Fish Catch Limits
Chesapeake Bay's Threat to Menhaden Forage Fish
Just got Even Bigger
Thanks to Cooke Aquaculture
Cooke's Omega wants more and suggest Virginia just not adapt new catch limits to go "out of compliance" to help it.
Cooke Aquaculture's Omega Protein - the largest harvester of forage fish in Chesapeake Bay - now wants more, claiming they got "a raw deal" when the new catch limits were recently put in place. Cooke is now suggesting Virginia go out of compliance with the regulations set in place to get a "fair hearing". leaving one more odd milestone in this Canadian based company's legacy. (see news report here)
We need Omega 3 in Puget Sound
for our nonnative Atlantic salmon.
Omega 3 Menhaden obtain from filtering plankton/algae in Cheapeake Bay is needed elsewhere, and Cooke wants more.
Cooke Aquaculture uses forage fish, in part, to feed its worldwide farmed salmon operations which include, in part, those in Puget Sound, growing nonnative Atlantic salmon. The forage fish are needed in order to create the Omega 3 fatty acids farmed salmon are advertised as providing. Not advertised is the huge volume of forage fish, the base of the food chain relied on by other species. Equally important, perhaps more so, is this particular forage fish - Menhaden - are also filter the largest volume of plankton from Chesapeake Bay.
A pig farm is cleaner than a fish farm.
These salmon farm operations exist in the public's open waters. Unlike a pig or chicken farm, where waste is contained and recycled, all waste from a salmon farm simply drifts in the marine ecosystem, wherever the tides may carry it. Whether excess food not consumed or the feces discharged by the fish, the amounts are in the tons. At a recent Senate hearing, it was estimated that one net pen discharged the same amount of waste as a city of 60,000. In the case of Puget Sound, an estimated 250,000 "pigs" escaped into the marine ecosystem when Cooke Aquaculture's negligence led to the collapse of one pen.
Is it any wonder people are upset with Cooke Aquaculture? Tell your elected official these nonnative Atlantic salmon need to go.
Legislative and Congressional contacts:
http://app.leg.wa.gov/DistrictFinder/
Friday, February 2, 2018
Willapa Bay and Imidacloprid: EPA Risk Assessment Released December 22, After DOE Closes Public Comments
Willapa Bay is Too Important
Don't allow another problem like the escape
of Atlantic salmon to occur. It can be stopped now.
This is a public body of water
for all of the public to enjoy.
You can't have a food chain without a foundation.
After public comments closed on November 1, of 2017, the EPA released its preliminary risk assessment on imidacloprid on December 22. Shellfish growers in Willapa Bay wish to apply imidacloprid directly to the waters and shellfish beds of Willapa Bay. In the EPA's assessment, a clear risk to aquatic organisms was shown, due to imidacloprid's persistence and how it spread throughout the aquatic ecosystem once it entered. Those aquatic organisms make up the very base of the food chain which species build on, causing a cascading effect on the aquatic food web. [Click here to see EPA's risk assessment, dated December 22.]
Critical points made in the report released December 22, after DOE closed the comment period on November 1.
1. "...aquatic invertebrates in particular
are highly sensitive to imidacloprid exposure." (p. 7)
2. "...the potential exists for indirect risks to fish and
aquatic-phase amphibians through reduction in their invertebrate prey base." (p. 8)
3. "Chronic risks were also identified for saltwater invertebrates from all foliar spray and
combination application method scenarios modeled." (p. 8) [Note: The assessment did not look at the direct application of imidacloprid to the aquatic ecosystem proposed by the shellfish industry.]
4. "The vast majority of use scenarios modeled with soil applications also indicated
chronic risk concerns with freshwater and saltwater invertebrates" (p. 8) [Note: Same as above - direct application to the marine environment was not looked at.]
5. "...concentrations of imidacloprid detected in streams, rivers, lakes and drainage canals routinely exceed
acute and chronic toxicity endpoints derived for freshwater invertebrates...' (p. 9) [Note: There has been no testing on widespread application to aquatic environments such as that proposed by shellfish growers, only small sample areas.]
6. "the risk
findings summarized in this assessment are in general agreement with recent findings published by
Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency and the European Food Safety Authority." (p. 10) [Note: Preceding this comment in the report was mortality of crayfish due to a "run off event". Again, this was not a direct application to the aquatic ecosystem as proposed by the shellfish growers in Willapa Bay.]
7. "...environmental fate properties of imidacloprid suggest high mobility and solubility" (p. 11)
8. "Aquatic invertebrates, specifically aquatic insects, have been shown to be among the most
sensitive taxa to acute and chronic exposures of imidacloprid" (p.11)
9. "...new aquatic toxicity data has been generated for imidacloprid since the
Agency conducted its most recent ecological risk assessments..." (p. 12) [Some from Willapa Bay, some generated from a scientists found in violation of state ethics laws for not disclosing, in part, his ownership of shellfish beds and a contractual relationship with one of the largest shellfish growers who would benefit if studies of herbicide application showed positive results. Click here to read agreed to stipulation.]
Get involved
Willapa Bay is a public body of water within which a diverse set of aquatic species exist. The Department of Ecology's denial or approval of this permit is dependent on having a clear picture of what the short term and long term impacts of this proposal will be. As noted in the EPA assessment, aquatic invertebrates are "highly sensitive" to imidacloprid. These make up the very base of the food chain upon which a larger population depends on. The assessment showed there was "high mobility and solubility" in the marine environment, meaning it very likely when applied this pesticide would spread and kill an unknown number of non-target species.
Shellfish Growers Have Alternatives to Pesticides in Public Waters
Washington's marine ecosystems are too important to simply brush aside the very real adverse and significant impacts which come along with aquaculture, which in this case is the proposal to apply a pesticide to Willapa Bay's public waters. There are funding opportunities to develop alternative growing methods (already used by some growers) which the National Marine Fisheries Services pointed out in their November 1 public comment letter, which opposed approval of this permit. Those funding sources include NMFS' Saltonstal-Kennedy Grant Program; NOAA Sea Grant's Marine Aquaculture Grant Program; NOAA Small Business innovation Research Program; and, NMFS' Finance Program.
Tell your elected officials you are opposed to the application of pesticides in Willapa Bay. The shellfish industry has both alternative methods and funding to develop those methods available.
http://app.leg.wa.gov/DistrictFinder/
Monday, January 15, 2018
Problems for a little fish and Chesapeake Bay just got a lot bigger: Cooke Aquaculture is after you.
Vertical integration: Good for profits,
bad for Menhaden and Chesapeake Bay.
Cooke Aquaculture - coming after
a forage fish near you with
ships bigger and better than ever.
Dust to Dust
150 tons of fish, much reduced to pellets...
...with much fed to salmon in net pens...
.
..with just the right amount of coloring added...
...to make them look like real fish.
One of two new ships built,
bigger and faster...
...to harvest Menhaden to support farmed salmon.
Menhaden - The filter feeders
of Chesapeake Bay filtering...
...or running from Cooke Aquaculture?
Where Omega Protein's
sets for Menhaden are taking place (2011).
Is it any wonder Chesapeake Bay
has an overabundance of plankton
when its most prolific filter feeders
are being stripped from it?
Problems for a little fish and Chesapeake Bay
are now a lot bigger - just to feed farmed salmon.
Thursday, January 11, 2018
Cooke Aquaculture and Atlantic Salmon: Cooke's Shiny Shoes are in Town for Meetings with Politicians - While another of their pens collapses.
Get involved and meet the politicians. Cooke is.
And they don't get why they and Atlantic salmon are a problem.
(See below for information on January 19 meeting.)
(See below for unfolding net pen collapse in Canada.)
[Net pen collapse story updated 1/12.]
(See below for information on January 19 meeting.)
(See below for unfolding net pen collapse in Canada.)
[Net pen collapse story updated 1/12.]
Turn on the political machine - promise them anything.
Executives from Cooke Aquaculture have descended on Olympia to confront politicians and agencies about proposed legislation and lease cancellations which are aimed at removing these invasive nonnative Atlantic salmon from Puget Sound. Along with their shiny shoes they have brought their lobbyists and have placed an advertisement on Craigslist, both promoting their business and looking for a Public Relations employee who is capable of fostering political and societal relationships.
Eclipse? No, negligence on Cooke's part
in not maintaining their facility.
(see below for "Net Pen Collapse - Part 2")
What Best Management Practices and Science will Get You
Four months ago Cooke blamed the "eclipse" on their net pen failure. A structure they knew was failing when they applied for a permit to replace it in early 2017. A structure which began to collapse in July. A structure which they initially claimed only let loose a few thousand Atlantic salmon, which in reality turned out to be over 160,000. 160,000 salmon they claimed - based on "science" - would not leave the pen area and quickly die off, but which over four months later are being caught over 50 miles up the Skagit River, healthy, and most certainly not dead. So much for BMP and science created to support this industry.
Put on your darned glasses and
see this company for what it really is.
Profits are their priority.
But They Like us on the East Coast - Really? Who do you talk to?
Cooke Aquaculture still cannot fathom why their operations are such an issue to Washington State. Testimony before the Senate Committee clearly showed a prioritization of their profits over the threat to native salmon their operations present. Cooke even went so far as to testify how wonderful they were on the east coast, knowing full well they are not liked. Permit applications have resulted in these comments from their "friends": pesticides kill lobsters; antibiotics used spread through the marine ecosystem; property values are decreased; dead zones are created under their pens; resources are wasted due to deaths of salmon; a lack of "good citizenship"; and, Cooke plead guilty to illegally dumping Cypermethrin pesticide, killing thousands of lobsters (read article on how "unliked" Cooke is here). Cooke certainly has friends, those who are recipients of token donations to fund various social causes, but that only serves to mask the reality of who Cooke is.
"Give us $25 million and we'll
build a processing plant - 300+ jobs"
Never mind.
Cooke: We had our fingers crossed when we made that promise. Thanks for the money.
Cooke is a company who will say anything to get what it wants. In 2012 Nova Scotia agreed to lend Cooke Aquaculture $25 million. With those funds, Cooke said they would build a processing plant and provide 300+ jobs. $18 million later, Cooke abandoned those plans and nobody seems to sure of just where that $18 million went to.
[Update: $2 million of the $18 million was returned. Of the $16 million outstanding, it was reported $4 million may be excusable. http://thechronicleherald.ca/novascotia/109644-n.s.-invests-25-million-in-fish-farm?page=1]
Another Cooke net pen bites the dust.
Trust us. Really?
January 11: Another Cooke Aquaculture pen collapses.
Now, unfolding on Canada's east coast is another net pen collapse and what appears to be another series of "there there, it's okay, you just go back to bed" statements from Cooke and the government. After a series of storms blew through the area, canopy predator netting was ripped loose; anchor lines broke; structures collapsed; and fish have likely escaped.
Get involved and plan on attending the January 19 meeting detailed below. This is a company whose past actions show its true face. They need to go.
We are (gratefully) forwarding this post from NetPen Aquaculture-Washington state (https://www.facebook.com/
ATLANTIC SALMON NET PEN MEETING with Washington's 24th District Senator Kevin Van De Wege & Representative Mike Chapman.
FRIDAY, JANUARY 19, 2018 4-5 PM Sequim City Transit Center, 190 W Cedar St., Sequim, WA 98382
The purpose of the meeting is to hear about aquaculture bill language being discussed in the Legislature.
The meeting will be from 4 - 5 PM at the Sequim City Transit Center, 190 West Cedar Street between Sequim-Dungeness Avenue and 2nd Street. Doors will open at 3:30 PM.
Currently there are three different bills, 1 in the Senate and 2 in the House, all focusing on 'Atlantic Salmon' net pens.
SB 6086 (sponsored by Rankin, Rolfes, Van De Wege, et al.) - "AN ACT Relating to protecting the state's marine waters from the release of nonnative finfish from marine finfish aquaculture sites." http://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/
HB 2418 (sponsored by Lytton, Chapman, et al.) - "AN ACT Relating to reducing impacts of nonnative finfish aquaculture by delaying construction of new nonnative finfish aquaculture facilities until thorough study, including structural analysis of existing facilities, is complete." http://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/
HB 2260 (sponsored by MacEwen, Walsh, et al. - of the 19th District.) - "AN ACT Relating to prohibiting the spawning, incubation, and cultivation of Atlantic salmon in the marine waters regulated by the state." . http://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/
The Senate Bill 6086 language would phase-out the pens as their leases expire.
The House Bill 2418 first asks for more study and for the leaseholder to show there is no environmental harm.
The House Bill 2260 is a prohibition on the species of Atlantic Salmon being used in aquaculture in Washington.
Senator VanDeWege and Representative Chapman are both concerned about the impacts of the Atlantic salmon net pens to the environment.
This meeting is a good chance for our legislators to explain the differences in the bills and for them to hear from us.
CWI submitted these comments yesterday:
Bottom line: we *don't* need more study, we *don't* need more (ineffective and expensive) agency ‘monitoring’ or 'consideration' of net pens. Science clearly tells us, and we KNOW these industrial aquaculture activities are lethal to our coastal systems and must NOT continue. We further know that that there is a win-win alternative: UPLAND CONTAINED systems. If it costs the industry a bit more to develop the technology so be it. The tax payers of Washington state have invested enormous public dollars to restoring and preserving our native ecosystem. Please be the leaders you were elected to be, stand up, as have Alaska, Oregon and California and immediately limit net pen to upland contained facility ONLY. Legislators should update BILL 6086-and all other bills proposed- to ban net pens from Washington shorelines and require that these facilities be converted to closed system upland aquaculture facilities effective NOW.
See:http://www.
Anne Shaffer, PhD
Coastal Watershed Institute
P.O.Box 266
Port Angeles, Washington 98362
"It's life.For heaven's sake-lean forward"
Thursday, December 14, 2017
DOE Can't Have it Both Ways - You Represent Citizens Who Don't Want Net Pens
[Update 3/14 - Corrected link to Mr. Gates comments.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgsSy6IsdhA&feature=youtu.be&t=1706]
[Update 12/14 4:10PM - Click here to submit comments to Clallam County on their proposal to ban salmon net pens through their Shoreline Master Program Update. Emphasize local interests are more important than those of Canadian based Cooke Aquaculture, the only company with these operations. If Cooke wishes to continue, upland facilities can be used.]
DOE Tim Gates telling Mason County
SMP Updates are the result of
a "community conversation" asking
"what do you want your community to look like."
Whose local interests does DOE really care about?
At a meeting where Mason County adopted its Shoreline Master Program Update, the Department of Ecology's Tim Gates stood before the Commissioners, speaking for DOE, to tell them what a Shoreline Master Program was supposed to represent. In his presentation, he stressed again and again how this was the result of a "community conversation" reflecting what citizens wanted their "commu/nity to look like". Mr. Gates went further, telling Commissioners SMP Updates are "always flavored by local interests."
Local citizens' expressed clearly and strongly:
We don't want this.
DOE response? Too bad.
Canadian based Cooke Aquaculture does.
Canada's Cooke Aquaculture is not a local Clallam County citizen
Apparently, the local interests which DOE cares about are not the local citizens, those citizens paying taxes, living in the counties adapting SMP Updates, and who elect government representatives to reflect their interest; citizens who turned out in overwhelming numbers to testify against open pen Atlantic salmon farming. Instead, local interests appear to be controlled by a Canadian company called Cooke Aquaculture. As reported in the Peninsula Daily News:
Ecology Regional Shoreline Planner Michelle McConnell told commissioners that Clallam County’s draft shoreline plan would likely be rejected by Ecology if it banned in-water net pen aquaculture. [Read Peninsula Daily News article by clicking here]
"You'll like this. It was baked in an oven
controlled by Washington laws."
No, we don't like it and it's time to change.
Get involved - get the cake out of this oven and start over.
For too long agencies have simply believed aquaculture is "baked in" to Washington's regulations and have allowed an exponential increase in industrial activities to take place in Washington's public waters. Those regulations have burned the public's cake. Washington's public waters are not a blank slate for foreign or local corporations to generate profits from. These are public waters to be preserved, protected, and restored for the benefit of all citizens. Not to generate profits for a few corporations, local or foreign. Tell your local officials it's time to cancel Cooke's leases and time to get strong regulatory oversight in place. Your grandchildren will thank you.
Contact your elected officials and tell them preserving Washington's public waters are more important than profits of a few corporations:
Elected representatives:
http://app.leg.wa.gov/DistrictFinder/
Wednesday, November 22, 2017
November 29-30: Upland Salmon Farming in Closed Pens Workshop
A workshop on salmon farming in closed pens will be held in Vancouver, BC on November 29 and 30. Participants include Atlantic Sapphire's Johan Andreassen whose product was recently picked up by Portland based New Seasons Market. Grown in closed Recirculating Aquaculture Systems (RAS) these enclosed facilities eliminate the risks to native salmon which facilities such as those operated by Cooke Aquaculture create. It is the only means by which Atlantic salmon achieve Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch "Green" "Best Choice" rating.
Support Truly Sustainable Aquaculture
Saturday, November 18, 2017
Coalition to Protect Puget Sound Habitat Year End Fund Raising
The Coalition to Protect Puget Sound Habitat has released its year end fund raising letter. It reviews 2017's activities and what it looks forward to in 2018.
Dear Members,
It is hard to believe that our Coalition to Protect Puget Sound is now being joined by National Organizations like the Center for Food Safety and the Center for Biological Diversity who are speaking out about the degradation of Puget Sound and Willapa Bay/Grays Harbor by the shellfish industry. In addition, Wild Fish Conservancy and the Sierra Club are now taking the lead on demanding the end of finfish Atlantic salmon net pens in Washington State waters. Many of us can remember when we were laughed at and excluded as we presented the threats of industrial shellfish and finfish aquaculture to local, state and Federal Agencies--now the aquaculture industry is no longer laughing.
The following lists our accomplishments as we continue to move forward:
1. We won the Washington State Court of Appeals decision that stopped the 5 acre Detienne geoduck operation in Henderson Bay/Pierce County. This case is now published, is precedent setting and is also being used by other environmental groups trying to protect eelgrass and forage fish.
2. By next spring, our Coalition lawsuit against the Army Corps for ignoring destructive cumulative impacts from shellfish aquaculture will be heard in Federal Court. After many years of working with the Center for Food Safety, we are excited that they have also sued the Army Corps for the adverse effects of shellfish aquaculture--especially on endangered species. Our litigation will be heard at the same time. To thank them for their invaluable pro-bono help, we encourage you to sign up with them as follows:
If you would like to learn more about CFS and stay updated on the work CFS is doing on shellfish aquaculture and other issues, it is free to sign up!
3. We have been told that nearly 1,000 comment letters opposing another Imidacloprid spray in Willapa Bay have been received by the Dept. of Ecology. Individuals, chefs and large national organizations stepped up after our years of alerting everyone of the devastation by the shellfish industry. This important coastal estuary has endured the shellfish industry spraying some form of pesticides directly in the water for over 40 years. Charts clearly show the corresponding plummeting of Chinook Salmon, ESA listed green sturgeon, ESA listed marbled murrelet, herring spawning and eelgrass beds.
4. Bainbridge Island and Pierce County continue their battle with the Department of Ecology to protect their shorelines with comprehensive aquaculture regulations in the Shoreline Master Program updates.
5. Our members have turned out to:
a.. Demand and see Jill Guernsey no longer the lawyer for the Pierce County Shorelines after reporting her conflict of interest of taking a donation from the shellfish industry's attorney for her Gig Harbor run for mayor at the same time she was representing Pierce County
b. Demand and see Dr. Glen VanBlaricom no longer presenting SeaGrant science after reporting his biased testimony at the Shoreline Hearings Board on behalf of the shellfish industry
c. Demand and see the Washington State Executive Ethics Board violation order against Kim Patten, who was the WSU scientist providing the "no harm" supporting science that has been used to issue pesticide spray permits for the shellfish industry in Willapa Bay/Grays Harbor for decades
d. Demand and see the first shellfish industry EIS required for the Burley Lagoon/Pierce County 25 acre geoduck application by Taylor Shellfish
We are currently working on other actions that will also protect our communities and we will announce these as soon as we are able to. Just know that we continue to move forward and greatly appreciate your time, donations and kind thoughts. If you are making any year end donations, please keep us in mind as we will use those funds wisely.
Tax deductible donations can be sent to: The Coalition To Protect Puget Sound Habitat
P O Box 233, Burley, WA. 98322
Wishing all of you the very best during this Holiday Season!
Sincerely,
Laura Hendricks
(253) 509-4987
Thursday, November 16, 2017
Senator Rankor Introduces a Bill to End Atlantic Salmon Farming in Puget Sound
Time for nonnative salmon and Cooke to go.
(See testimony of DNR, DOE, WDFW, Lummi Chairman Julius, and Cooke representatives/lobbyist here: https://www.tvw.org/watch/?eventID=2017111058)
Thursday: Washington State Senator Rankor announces he will introduce legislation to end Atlantic salmon farming in Washington.
(Read Seattle Times article here: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/environment/washington-state-senator-says-hell-file-bill-to-ban-atlantic-salmon-farming/)
Not satisfied with Cooke Aquaculture presenting themselves as fishermen/farmers focused on NOAA talking points of feeding the world through aquaculture and why they are respected in the northeast, Senator Rankor has agreed with Washington citizens: Cooke Aquaculture and Atlantic salmon have no place in Washington. Despite a glowing presentation before the House Agriculture and Natural Resource Committee highlighting who Cooke Aquaculture is, it was not enough to stop Senator Rankor from announcing that he was moving forward with introducing legislation which would ban these operations growing nonnative invasive Atlantic salmon in Washington's waters.
As pointed out in the article, Cooke Aquaculture is a large foreign company and will use its lobbying strengths to influence legislators and attorneys to fight attempts to limit its operations. After all, their bank loan is dependent on these leases and, as they say, it's all about the money.
Saturday, October 28, 2017
Pesticides in Willapa Bay: It's not about bees. It's about Willapa Bay's aquatic ecosystem and native marine invertebrates, the very foundation of the food chain.
Comments due November 1
Reminder: Comments on the proposal to apply the neurotoxic pesticide Imidacloprid to shellfish beds in Willapa Bay are due by November 1.
You may submit comments here: http://ws.ecology.commentinput.com/?id=aefUM
(Alternatively, you may say you support the comment letter from the Coastal Watershed Institute found here: https://commentinput.com/attachments/projectID_1001/10063/merged//12829.pdf)
(Or, you may say you support the comment letter from Northwest Center for Alternatives to Pesticides, found on The Coastodian's site, here: https://coastodian.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/comment-letter-oyster-imidacloprid-proposal-SEIS-2017_updated-1.pdf)Willapa Bay is not a template for shellfish growers to profit from. It's time for them to step back.
Anthropogenic Extinction
of a Native Oyster
(From The History and Decline
Native oyster, native habitat, gone.
In the mid-1800's one of the great anthropogenic acts of extinction began in Willapa Bay. An estimated 27% of Willapa Bay was originally covered with native Olympia oyster. By 1920 that population, whose beds were estimated to have been as dense as 116 oysters per square meter, were all but gone, a direct result of overharvesting. After the shellfish industry first stripped the more easily harvested intertidal and low subtidal areas, they then convinced politicians in 1899 they should be allowed to dredge the remaining subtidal population. Shortly after that point, the native population of Olympia oyster, likely genetically distinct to Willapa Bay, were all but gone. Thanks to little more than the goal of short sighted profits by the shellfish industry.
Bring in the nonnatives, spray the invasives (as defined by the shellfish industry)
Left with nothing more than empty tidelands the shellfish growers, instead of restoring the native Olympia oyster, attempted to introduce the nonnative Eastern oyster. Shipped by rail and packed in Spartina, it was a failure after mass die-offs. What didn't die-off was Spartina. Considered a beneficial plant on the east coast because of its ability to stabilize soils in the nearshore environment and habitat it provided, shellfish growers considered it an invasive species. Through political lobbying they were able to get approved one of the largest herbicidal spraying operations in a marine environment. While successful in minimizing Spartina, its sediment retention properties were lost, resulting in dispersal of sediments previously held in place throughout Willapa Bay.
If at first you don't succeed - try again. And strip ownership of tidelands from those who made it succeed.
After the failure of the Eastern oyster, Willapa Bay shellfish growers turned to the nonnative Japanese Pacific oyster. Growers from Japan had been successfully importing and growing the Pacific oyster privately owned tidelands since 1905. Until "passage by a State Legislature of a law (1922) restricting the ownership of lands by aliens, [when] the
Japanese Company was forced out of business" (from "The Immigrant Oyster", a history of how the nonnative Pacific oyster came to be introduced and cultured in Washington's waters). At that point, after the failure of the Eastern oyster, the nonnative Pacific oyster was what was grown.
Bring in the nonnatives, spray the invasives. Part 2.
Along with the nonnative Pacific oyster imported from Japan, also came the nonnative Japanese eelgrass. As with Spartina, in Japan this species of eelgrass is considered beneficial in the habitat and food provided to aquatic and avian species. But, as with Spartina, shellfish growers here considered it to be a "noxious weed." Shellfish growers successfully convinced the Noxious Weed Board to classify Japanese eelgrass as a "noxious weed" which in turn led to approval spraying Imazamox, an herbicide, into Willapa Bay in order to more easily grow nonnative Manila clams and nonnative Pacific oysters.
Kill off the natives with pesticides so nonnatives can grow.
Now, shellfish growers believe it is time to remove a native species, the burrowing shrimp. Growers claim the burrowing shrimp is spreading throughout the bay, making their tidelands too soft to grow nonnative shellfish on. And with the removal of the burrowing shrimp, any other aquatic invertebrate in the area, making up the very base of the food chain in Willapa Bay. The shellfish growers' response? It helps the population to kill them off. (Dick Sheldon, October 10, before the Department of Ecology)
Willapa Bay needs a new chef. It's not a "chemical soup" and not a profit template.
It's time for shellfish growers to be told to step aside. Their short sighted actions have done little more than transform what had been a bay whose tidelands were populated with native Olympia oysters in densities unimaginable today. Their short sighted actions have introduced multiple nonnative species into a thriving ecosystem which has done nothing more than create what Washington's attorney general described as "the chemical soup that was the bay." A chemical soup created by chefs who call themselves shellfish growers.
Get involved. Industrial aquaculture is transforming Washington's marine ecosystems. Aquaculture can be done, within reason. But just because it is "aquaculture" should not mean it can do what it wants, where it wants, however it wants.
Comments due November 1.
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