As if to underscore my concerns about not having the voice of critics of the shellfish industry at the upcoming “Aquaculture Education Day” being put on by the Jefferson Marine Resources Committee, here’s a new story on the Willapa Bay fiasco. Wonder if anyone would be interested in hearing some about this issue at the education forum?
The shrimp are actually native to the bay, unlike the oysters which were brought in to farm from Japan after settlers overharvested the native Pacific Northwest oyster to near extinction.
Many farmers believe the influx of shrimp was likely human-caused. Wilson points to a decrease in predators after decades of overfishing sturgeon and salmon and the dams along the Columbia River, which ended freshwater floods that killed off shrimp in the bay. (emphasis mine)
Read the whole story here:
https://www.nwpb.org/2019/06/18/willapa-bay-oyster-farmers-struggle-as-shrimp-population-booms/
Filed under: Puget Sound | Tagged: Puget Sound |
I don’/t get what the industry doesn’t get…why would anyone buy shellfish from an area where imidacloprid, carbryl, imazamox were used to eradicate anything. The European Union banned using imidacloprid in specific areas; the labels state it isn’t to be used on water so why do the shellfish farmers keep demanding a chemical solution when I understand they could use longer poles to grow suspended oysters.