Study predicts decline in Dungeness crab from ocean acidification – Seattle Times

Posted on January 16, 2017 by Al Bergstein

More on ocean acidification and it’s likely affect on our local food supply.

Dungeness crab are forecast to take a hit from ocean acidification driven by fossil- fuel combustion, according to a study released this past week. Though the populations of the Dungeness crab fluctuate year by year, their overall abundance by 2063 could be about 30 percent lower, according to federal fishery biologist Issac Kaplan, a co-author of the study,  Hal Bernton reports. (Seattle Times)

http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/environment/study-predicts-decline-in-dungeness-crab-from-ocean-acidification/

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Coalition of groups sues Army Corp of Engineers over Aquaculture

Posted on June 23, 2016 by Al Bergstein
The battle over the expansion of geoduck farm aquaculture in Puget Sound has just taken a huge step into open legal warfare. A group called the Coalition To Protect Puget Sound Habitat,  concerned over  the increase in geoduck farm permits without substantial review, have sued the US Army Corp of Engineers, who issue the shoreline aquaculture permits allowing this expansion. The coalition is asking to have the courts stop the Corp from issuing new permits, and suspending  some of the latest permits until further in-depth research is done into the cumulative effects of the permitting. Also a number of other requests were demanded by the suit. It states that the Corps has been in violation of the Clean Water Act by its actions.
The case is much more than a simple lawsuit. Due to the demand for geoduck in China, companies have been racing to convert geoduck friendly shorelines (not all shores in Puget Sound support geoduck) to aquaculture. This often takes prime shoreline that is used by the public  out of commission, essentially forever. If you owned a shoreline home in any of these areas, you would find you have suddenly got an industrial operation happening in your “backyard” at all hours of day and night, according to the tide tables. This can mean diesel generators going at any hour on the beaches below your house, especially during winter tides.
An example of the growth of shellfish farms in the South Sound is given in the lawsuit.
cumulative impacts of shellfish farms
While NOAA scientists claim that there is only ‘limited damage’ to these beaches, it is all based on the notion that the farm is ‘temporary’, which it is not. Studies have not shown any significant long term damage, if the farm would be terminated and the beach allowed to return to it’s natural state. Also studies have not taken into affect the cumulative action of converting many beaches along a given reach within a short time. The lawsuit is addressing this issue as a problem. 
 
However, short term use of the beaches is not happening. Once the beach is converted, it is then for all practical purposes an aquaculture farm until the market no longer supports its existence.
So the Coalition to Protect Puget Sound Habitat has announced a lawsuit, seeking to halt all permitting while the Corps undertakes a systematic look at the cumulative effects of all the farms.
While the press release states that this is a coalition, it is not clear who actually are members of the Coalition. Their web site and press release below mentions a list of organizations and individuals, with “Washington Sierra Club – Aquaculture” listed as perhaps the most prominent organization. This link ends in a dead link at the Tacoma Sierra Club site. In contacting the Washington Sierra Club about the lawsuit, a representative stated, “The Washington State Sierra Club is not a plaintiff in this case because we are not a member of the Coalition.”
There are no specific names listed as members, though the press release refers to “an alliance of citizens, scientists and conservation groups concerned about the pollution and adverse impacts (both short and long term) of the industrial scale aquaculture that is proliferating in Puget Sound. Local Chefs have also expressed concerns about the potential effects of these operations on the Sound.” There are no specific chefs, nor scientists named.
A key person in some of the organizations behind the lawsuit is Laura Hendricks. Laura has been at the center of this aquaculture controversy for over a decade. Hendricks has been an aggressive opponent of  both the aquaculture industry and other environmental organizations that don’t see eye to eye with her hardcore approach, which in the past has been looking to stop all geoduck farming in the South Sound.  Many of these other organizations recognize the need for support by the aquaculture industry for clean water efforts, as they are a powerful industry in the State that needs clean water to survive and thrive, and are often a major employer in small rural communities along the Sound. Many organizations have spent considerable efforts allying themselves with the industry for mutual goals, and industry leaders, such as Taylor Shellfish, have been very supportive of these joint efforts. This is not meant to say that the aquaculture industry  isn’t contributing to the controversy in their own way, as their representatives in groups such as the local Marine Resource Committees are often hard core industry promoters that attack any attempt to question any of their more controversial  issues. The industry also supports an aggressive lobbying effort in Olympia, that has had no real competitive organization to counter it’s demands over the last few years. Add to this the very effective public relations campaign that the industry uses which highlights the public’s love for shellfish.
When I  contacted, Ms. Hendricks she stated, ” …we challenged the Corps approval of and issuance of authorizations for many hundreds of individual projects.  We have also listed in the complaint (paragraph 64) five specific permits that were issued despite our detailed and well documented comments.  We are seeking to have the Corps suspend all the permits that will potentially cause harm to the Sound, until proper analysis is done.

We merely want the Corps to follow the law and not issue permits until the full and proper analysis already required by the environmental law has been done.  The Seafood industry should be supporting us, not fighting us.  Why?  Because if something is not done, the cumulative impacts of these projects will damage the Sound.  Then their industry will end up crashing, and they will not be able to sustain their businesses in the long term.  It will end up just like the other extractive industries have, over the years.  It will be a boom and bust, cut and run, situation sort of like what happened with the mining industry, the oil and gas industry, the timber industry, and the off shore fisheries industry.  The truth is simple, overharvest leads to population crash and environmental degradation.  In reality, rather than opposing us the current permit holders ought to be joining us and insisting that no more permits be issued until the studies on cumulative impacts are done.  That would give current permittees a competitive edge, and make their permits more valuable – look what it did to crab boat licenses in AK – and it would also help ensure that their projects don’t lead to destruction of the very resources that they rely upon for their livelihood.

 

No studies have ever looked at the cumulative impact of almost a 1,000 industrial scale projects in operation all at the same time.  Ask the SeaGrant people.  They have never been directed to do that kind of research.  They have only looked at short term impacts.  We are trying to prevent the death from a 1,000 cuts from happening to this Sound.  The law already requires the Corps to have conducted a cumulative impact analysis on the effects of all these permits.  Yet they have NEVER done one that takes into account the combined and synergistic impacts of the  huge number of permits they have already issued – to say nothing of the many more applications that are still pending.   

The entire geoduck controversy is compounded because the Tribes also lay claim to traditional  geoduck harvesting areas, and have treaty rights that allow them to grow and harvest the clams. It has been a significant source of income to some of the tribes. Taking care to work with the Tribes is a key element in balancing the environmental concerns and winning concessions for legislative efforts. No tribes are targeted in this suit, nor are they plaintiffs. However, it is unclear whether they would be affected by this suit if it is successful, as some tribes have recently expanded their geoduck farming activity, and I would assume that Army Corp of Engineers approvals were needed by them also. The Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe’s and the Skokomish  permits are called out as two of a number of permits that were pending in April of 2016 by the Corp , and as such, appears might be suspended or withheld, if the case is successful. There are also a number of Jefferson County farms that are on the list highlighted by the lawsuit. Look at the spreadsheet on page 60 of the document.
The full text of the lawsuit.
 The text of the lawsuit press release.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 22, 2016

CONTACT: Laura Hendricks-Coalition (253) 509-4987
                 Karl Anuta-Attorney (503) 827-0320
                Thane Tienson-Attorney (503) 224-4100
The Coalition to Protect Puget Sound Habitat announced that it has filed suit against the US Army Corps of Engineers, challenging the Seattle District of the Corps for its excessive issuance of shoreline aquaculture permits. The lawsuit, filed in Federal District Court for the Western District of Washington, outlines how the Seattle District has issued almost 1,000 permit verifications/registrations for industrial-scale shellfish operations in Puget Sound over the last four years, under a Nationwide Clean Water Act Permit (#48) – but it claims that the Corps has never done a cumulative impact analysis of the effects of all those permits on the Sound, the Orcas and salmon of the Sound, and the many other resources.  Nor, claims the Coalition, has the Corps evaluated the cumulative impacts of these operations on the people who live and recreate in the Sound.
The Coalition is an alliance of citizens, scientists and conservation groups concerned about the pollution and adverse impacts (both short and long term) of the industrial scale aquaculture that is proliferating in Puget Sound. Local Chefs have also expressed concerns about the potential effects of these operations on the Sound.
“We tried repeatedly to get the Corps to stop issuing these permits, until an evaluation of the cumulative effects of all this nearshore habitat degradation and massive amount of PVC and High Density Polyethylene plastic pollution has been looked at.” said Laura Hendricks of the Coalition.
“We talked to them; we sent them many sets of detail written comments, along with more than 40 supporting studies. We even filed a Petition asking them to suspend the use of the permit here in Puget Sound, until the analysis of the cumulative effects were done. But they just kept issuing more registrations. They really left us no choice but to ask the federal courts to make them do their job and follow the law.” Hendricks lamented.
The suit alleges that the Corps violated the National Environmental Policy Act and the Clean Water Act, by not evaluating the cumulative impacts of issuance of so many registrations. “Our environmental laws require the Corps to fully evaluate the effects of these kinds of permits, and to not allow more than minimal harm.” said Curt Puddicombe of the Coalition.  “The Corps’ own records showed that in the first year of the current Nationwide permit, the Corps issued more than 800 registrations – over 3 times the number that it thought would be issued.  When that happened, the Corps had an obligation to step back and re-evaluate the cumulative effects. That is what any reasonable person would do, that is what the law requires, and that is certainly what we should expect a Federal agency charged by the law with protecting and restoring the waters of the Sound to do.” said Puddicombe.
“We recognize the shellfish production in Puget Sound should be an important component of a sustainable Northwest. But that production has to be done on a rational and sustainable scale.  A balanced approach is needed. Right now, the insane number of these registrations already issued, with another hundred applications already pending at the Corps, is converting Puget Sound into an industrial shellfish production site ignoring native aquatic species protection and restoration goals.” said Hendricks.
For more information, see attached lawsuit and our website at:

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Gulf Of Mexico Open For Fish-Farming Business – NPR

Posted on February 9, 2016 by Al Bergstein

NOAA continues its promotion of the aquaculture fish farming industry. Since the government destroyed huge swaths of the Gulf with its lack of stiff enforcement of oil drilling, now it has decided that fish farming there is a great idea. No environmentalists  anywhere in the world that have looked at this industry think it’s a good idea. And the fish farming industry and NOAA are targeting  opening  up the Salish Sea for more fish farming also.  Their science on it, when you read it, is missing key issues of investigation, such as long term affects of the bottom and the general larger habitat around the fish. The experience of fish farming in British Columbia, Norway and other locations, is one of vast overuse of antibiotics, needed because of dense packing in the cages, which create a vector for disease, like sea lice infestations that are infecting wild stocks that pass by the cages. Escaped farm fish compete with native species, coverups of massive problems with disease by the highly secretive farming industry and smear campaigns for highly credible scientists and their labs, including using the Government of Canada to arbitrarily shut down the labs involved after they publish their results (under the Harper and Christie government two and three  years ago) and a basic lack of concern for anything but their own bottom lines. While I support much of what NOAA does, this area is very suspiciously looking like it has been corrupted by the industry that it is supposed to be impartially regulating.

This is yet another example of a Democratic administration doing exactly what we would expect from a Republican one. It is the kind of arrogance towards our shared environment and the people of the Gulf that fuels the anger of the electorate towards Washington D.C. and the administrators there that choose business over the environment time and time again.  It’s worth remembering that Obama opened up offshore oil drilling against environmentalists concerns just weeks before the Gulf Spill in March 2010, saying it was ‘safe’ and that we had great safeguards. He was proven wrong in May of that year. He has since reopened drilling off the coast, even after the BP spill, against the wishes of Governors of those coastal states affected by the decision. Now he is opening up Gulf waters for large scale fish pens. We are also targeted for that same treatment, as fish farms are proposed west of Port Angeles at present time. The State demanded that counties not ban fish farming in their Shoreline Master Programs, and actually have held up approval of the Jefferson County SMP over that very issue. Luckily we have had Phil Johnson an ex-fisherman, fighting this issue with the State, but at present it is still legal to open a fish farm in Jefferson County, over the objections of both a scientific panel and a citizen advisory group of 20 citizens that included a shellfish farmer. When I questioned the previous head of the State of Washington Department of Ecology, he had no idea that it was even a problem worth addressing. The latest head of DOE is a lawyer as well as an administrator and she is unwilling to seriously discuss reversing her department’s decision.

To be clear, while I’m  disappointed in the administration for allowing this, voting in the opposition will simply make it worse, as the Republicans have never seen an environmental law they like. Just look at Flint Michigan for a great example of Republican oversight of the environment.  Our best efforts are to fight decisions like this in the courts, contact our representatives to make them aware of the public feelings on the issue, make it an issue at elections, and elect people like Phil Johnson who will fight against the influence of big money industries trading off the environment and our wild fish for short term profits.

To their credit, NPR does point out the  criticisms of this decision.

The Gulf of Mexico is now open for commercial fish farming. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced last month that, for the first time in the U.S., companies can apply to set up fish farms in federal waters. The idea is to compete with hard-to-regulate foreign imports. But opening the Gulf to aquaculture won’t be cheap, and it could pose environmental problems. Tegan Wendland reports. (NPR)

http://www.kplu.org/post/gulf-mexico-open-fish-farming-business

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Genetically engineered salmon is fit for dinner, FDA says in first decision of its kind – LA Times

Posted on November 20, 2015 by Al Bergstein

Sometimes government agencies get it wrong. This is one of those times. Now we, the consumers, have to continue to just say no to farmed salmon, and demand wild fish. Only consumers can stop the industry, which has apparently manipulated through it’s lobbying efforts the highest levels of the FDA. This is a bad decision, for the environment, for consumers, and for fish. Why? It’s not that you might keel over by eating this fish. It’s about the entire ecosystem that is created to support this new animal. Have long term studies been done? I’ve not seen any. Has anyone questioned whether the feed and antibiotics that may be needed to support this creature are passed through to diners? Or what their effects on the environment might be under the pens that raise these? NOAA, which has certified these pens, only looks at the short term effects of the pens on the bottom directly under the pens. The science behind this is skewed in the favor of the farms, not the environment or the consumer. 


Perhaps that last breed does not evoke images of ancient and frigid headwaters in Alaska or Arctic Canada, where wild salmon spawn every year, or even the humble hatcheries that produce less expensive species consumed by millions of people. But on Thursday, the Food and Drug Administration announced that the AquAdvantage salmon — developed using growth hormone from Chinook salmon and a gene from an eel-like ocean fish that makes it reach market size twice as quickly as other salmon — has become the first genetically engineered animal approved for American consumption. AquaBounty Technologies Inc., the Massachusetts company that created the fish, calls it “the world’s most sustainable salmon.” Opponents call it “Frankenfish.” The FDA, which was accused of delaying the decision for years amid public concern, now says you can call it dinner. William Yardley reports. (LA Times)

 http://touch.latimes.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-85096654/

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The B.C. Scallop Farmer’s Acid Test – The Tyee

Posted on November 19, 2015 by Al Bergstein

More on the emerging ocean acidification issues of aquaculture. 

Rob Saunders points a flashlight into the depths of an immense plastic tank at his hatchery, illuminating millions of scallop larvae as tiny as dust particles. “Think of these as canaries in a coal mine,” says the marine biologist turned embattled shellfish farming CEO. It is here at Island Scallops’ facility in Qualicum Beach, located just inland from British Columbia’s shellfish farming epicentre of Baynes Sound, that ocean acidification wreaked havoc. Beginning in 2011, the company’s scallop brood stock (adult shellfish bred over 25 years to be disease-resistant and exceptionally meaty), began to die. Christopher Pollon reports. (The Tyee)

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2015/11/19/climate-change-scallops_n_8597502.html

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New film on Salmon Piscine Reovirus Outbreak

Posted on July 18, 2013 by Al Bergstein

While Canadian officials stonewall the publication of scientific data that shows that Piscine Reovirus in net pen raised Atlantic salmon appears to be spreading to wild stocks, Alexandra Morton and filmmaker Twyla Roscovich’s keep working to get the news out. Why  is this important? Because our Department of Ecology and Department of Fish and Wildlife do not seem to have a sense of urgency on this issue, which could easily spread down here. Over 70% of the samples of store bought salmon in BC appear to be infected by the virus.

Filmmaker Twyla Roscovich traveled to Norway to ask the remaining experts who have not been forcibly silenced on this issue.  A very disturbing report from the scientists actually doing the research in Norway.

A new short film on piscine reovirus in wild salmon

 

Asking Norway about the Piscine Reovirus

https://vimeo.com/70399899

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Tests show no signs of ISA virus in Washington’s salmon–WDFW

Posted on May 31, 2013 by Al Bergstein

If these tests are accurate  (BC has consistently manipulated their tests results), then this is good news. However, with the disease found just north of us, it requires ongoing testing and vigilance if we want to protect our wild stocks (and the investments of hundreds of millions of dollars over the decades we have spent as taxpayers). It is good to see that there are two labs involved in the testing, and that the Tribes are also in the loop on the process. The NW Indian Fisheries Commission is certainly a credible independent voice for wild salmon.

Recent tests of salmon from Washington’s waters show no signs of a fish virus that can be deadly to farm-raised Atlantic salmon, state, tribal and federal resource managers announced today. Infectious Salmon Anemia Virus (ISAV) was not detected in tissue samples taken from more than 900 wild and hatchery-produced Pacific chinook, coho, sockeye, chum and steelhead, as well as farm-raised Atlantic salmon. ISAV is not harmful to people. Specific strains of the virus have caused a deadly disease in farm-raised Atlantic salmon. Outbreaks with significant losses have occurred in farmed Atlantic salmon in Maine, Eastern Canada, Chile and several European countries. ISAV has not been documented in farmed, wild or hatchery salmon in Washington.

http://wdfw.wa.gov/news/may3013a/

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Closed-Pen Fish Farms Offer Challenges and Opportunities: Study – Times Colonist

Posted on March 8, 2013 by Al Bergstein

The evidence mounts that we can safely prohibit net pen fin fish aquaculture from being in our waters without killing the industry. It’s time to give some financial support to the industry to get them over the hump, and out of our waters. But this will also take the Department of Ecology and NOAA to get their scientists off the dime and on the same page as the rest of us. They have shown no intention of changing their industry hardened position on this. The courts likely will have to force them, and that challenge may come sooner than later.  Here’s the latest from BC, where there is a huge movement to ban net pens,based on emerging science that is very much showing problems with the industry. However the BC government has been, until recently, hiding negative science and banishing scientists who don’t tow the industry line. This is a small glimpse at the work being done there to change that. It doesn’t have to be the industry argument of “jobs or environment” . It can and should be both.

It’s technologically possible to raise salmon in closed containment pens but questions remain whether it’s financially viable for the aquaculture industry, says a parliamentary report released Thursday. The report, by members of the House of Commons’ standing committee on fisheries and oceans, was delivered Thursday and included testimony from all sides of the controversial issue of closed containment aquaculture.

Judith Lavoie reports.

Closed-pen fish farms offer challenges and opportunities: study

http://www.timescolonist.com/news/local/closed-pen-fish-farms-offer-challenges-and-opportunities-study-1.87276

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Net Pen Bill Dies in Committee – Time to change the rules of the game

Posted on February 22, 2013 by Al Bergstein

You would have been excused if you were at the hearing for Net Pen legislation this week, and you thought it was the Department of Commerce and not Ecology sitting hand in hand with the net pen industry lobbyist. Reminiscent of The Walrus and the Carpenter in Lewis Carrol, who went walking hand in hand, crying fake tears as they bemoaned the  carving up  of the oysters, who represented  the ‘little people’. Not much has changed it seems, in the 150 years, since Carroll penned this quaint little poem, about the  cozy relationship of government with industry, despite  the concerns of those who pay their salaries. This short  bill would have allowed local jurisdictions to prohibit net pens in their Shoreline Master Programs (SMPs). It would have allowed the rules to be strengthened, not weakened. It wouldn’t have even prohibited net pens , but allowed those jurisdictions that wanted to prohibit them to do so. And to be clear, there are *no* net pens currently in Jefferson County, so we aren’t even talking about affecting a current industry. No jobs are being “lost”. Why? Because it isn’t economically viable to put pens in Jefferson County. You would think that DOE, after allowing us to put in large shoreline buffers would have been in support of  giving us the right to prohibit an industry that has mounting scientific evidence of harm to the very species that agency is supposed to be trying to save. But after hearing the  testimony, and allowing this  industry that is a  recipient of our  government largess, along with the professional  bureaucratic stonewalling of DOE on their behalf to dominate the committee hearing, they allowed them to  run-out the clock  on testimony before the chairman arbitrarily changed the length of time for anti netpen forces to testify, and the bill died in committee this week. The bill’s sponsor(s) apparently never showed up to testify.

Our county commissioners will now have to send DOE their conditional use criteria for net pens.

This open  display of DOE collusion with the net pen industry, working together with the committee  officials to quash this bill, over objections by a wide range of water based industries and supporters, shows how weak the environmental community is in Olympia this year. Where was the new head of DOE, Maia Bellon?  Where was anyone from  The Puget Sound Partnership who is charged with helping make the Salish Sea ‘fishable, drinkable, swimmable” by 2020?    Where was any representation from the Governor’s office? Nowhere to be seen. Is Ms. Bellan  going to challenge the DOE bureaucrats that she oversees, those folks in Bellevue and Olympia  (yes, we know which departments they are in)  that have abrogated it’s jurisdiction over the mounting concern of the environmental effects of the Net Pen industry? Perhaps a significant series of lawsuits against the department,  it’s charter, and the industry that it claims to be overseeing is in order.  We’ve done all we can do to work inside the system. Now it’s probably time to mount legal attacks outside it.  We  can clearly assume from this hearing  that our Department of Ecology, at least as it relates to the Net Pen industry, like it’s British Columbia counterparts, have been bought and paid by the industry. They have shown no interest in the concerns of our county commissioners, one of whom is an ex-fisherman.  Ted Sturdevant, prior to leaving the head of DOE, told this reporter that he had no clue that there was any problem with net pens, and hadn’t read anything of concern from British Columbia. It was a rather shocking admission from the head of the agency that was charged with regulating it.

So I agree with Billy Frank Jr. who has, on numerous occasions gotten angry at our elected officials and assumed we can’t hope for any of them to do the right thing without pressure (listen to his impassioned speech from the Northwest Straits Annual Meeting last fall).  Billy Frank Jr. said last November, “When it comes to salmon, to Treaty Rights, no one is in charge. So how do we make it happen?  You make it happen, we all make it happen. In 1976 Judge Boldt took away the right of the State of Washington to manage the salmon, because they were not doing their job (emphasis mine).Well, the Federal Court put a stop to it. Today the State of Washington is broke, but when they had money they didn’t do anything to manage the resources. So here we are, we are the bad guys again. Why do we have to go to the United States Government and tell them about the laws? ”

So where are we supposed to turn for a fair hearing if DOE isn’t even reading of the controversy  in BC?  First Nation tribes on Vancouver Island have been leading huge rallies (that have not been well reported here) and marching down the length of the Island to the Parliament  Is it time for us to lead a similar march down the length of the Hood Canal to Olympia? And one from Bellingham, perhaps tying in the Coal port proposal and the Net Pens? In the hearing DOE said that they made a mistake in Whatcom County that they intend to fix in the next round of the SMP there.  It seems that any further discussions with either body should be done in a court of law. Our State, and the Federal Government, are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to restore native salmon runs.  A small DNA mutation to the viruses attacking the net pen fish, which is what virus’ do, or the accumulated problems of sea lice that the pens breed, can be a tipping point that could make all that for nothing. Is it really worth the risk for a tiny industry? The implied threats of DOE to “fix” their bureaucratic ‘mistake’ on behalf of an industry makes a mockery out of their oversight of our Ecology.Let’s remember, that  it is not the Department of Ecology’s, Ecology. It is our ecology, we who are paying for these people to fight us for years over this issue. When they want an SMP done, they want us to do all the heavy lifting, for free, of putting in place buffers on their behalf  in the SMP, allowing us to prohibit shoreline mining,  fighting that fight over years of public meetings with screaming crowds that have been fed misinformation by the folks who want to do whatever they want with streams and the buffers. DOE  gave us nothing in the way of science to help with this. We had to go to scientists in other parts of the country to get the examples. They don’t even do their  homework in DOEland.

There’s an old blues song, that goes, “He’s got a hand full of gimme, and a mouth full of much obliged.” It seems apt to what Ecology is doing to us. They come here and want us to write the SMP, then when we make it work for us, more stringent than they would do, they say we can’t do that.   It’s time to change the game.

It’s time the environmental community got as angry as Billy Frank Jr, at our government inaction and endless meetings.   The NW Indian Fisheries Commission  are demanding that things get done.  We would like to see Governor Inslee and Ms. Bellan declare a moratorium on net pens, and spend as long studying the emerging science on them as they have fighting us over prohibiting them.  Governor Inslee  stood in the Rotunda of the Capital in front of hundreds of environmental supporters last week, as this bill was being killed, people who made the difference of getting him elected, and told them that he wanted to make Washington the “greenest” state in the union. Let’s see him start right here and now and open this debate back up. Let’s see our legislators get this done, as they say they want to. Throwing a bill over the wall to a committee that is manipulated to kill it, and not seeing it pushed through , is only playing half court basketball.  The least they can do for us is fight to reopen the scientific basis for the support of the industry, which  is over 20 years old. If Inslee and Bellam don’t want to see this done, then it’s time to change the game and take them to court.  Given the concerns being raised just over the border to the north, it’s time to challenge this cozy relationship. Go ahead, county commissioners,  and put the conditions in to the SMP, set the bar plenty high. We sincerely appreciate that you fought this as far as you have.  Let’s get this round of the SMP  done. But  Ms Bellon’s honeymoon  period with the environment that she is chartered to protect, is over. Her team suited up to play ball, but came out on the wrong side of the court. Now it’s time for those of us who care about restoring the salmon runs, to hire some ringers and win this game.

“It seems a shame,” the Walrus said,
“To play them such a trick,
After we’ve brought them out so far,
And made them trot so quick!”
The Carpenter said nothing but
“The butter’s spread too thick!”

“I weep for you,” the Walrus said:
“I deeply sympathize.”
With sobs and tears he sorted out
Those of the largest size,
Holding his pocket-handkerchief
Before his streaming eyes.

“O Oysters,” said the Carpenter,
“You’ve had a pleasant run!
Shall we be trotting home again?’
But answer came there none–
And this was scarcely odd, because
They’d eaten every one.

Filed under: Aquaculture, fisheries, Jefferson County, Olympic Peninsula, Puget Sound | Tagged: , , | 1 Comment »

Highly Controversial Decision Against Point Reyes Oyster Farm- Marin Independent Journal

Posted on November 29, 2012 by Al Bergstein

We here on the Olympic Peninsula and Salish Sea, aren’t the only ones dealing with the controversy over aquaculture farming. The shellfish industry is up in arms, even up here, over the ruling by Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, to end the lease with Drake Bay Oyster Co. on Point Reyes. This action, if left to stand, will end with the removal of the farm, the loss of 30 jobs, and the closing of one of the last oyster farms left in California.

The controversy exists over the reading of the lease, which apparently offered the shellfish farm with the ability to renew the lease, but the Parks department is saying that is not the case.

With powerful political allies like Senator Diane Feinstein siding with the oyster company, and the shellfish industry that is planning to sue to overturn the decision, I don’t think we have heard the end of this issue.

The bizarre part of this, is that the decision allows continued ranching and farming within the park, which one could argue would be vastly more destructive to the land than a small oyster farm operation. Also, given that the decision came just after the election, that this was in the works for months, with the election holding back the decision.

It is hard to understand the science behind this decision. These decisions often are not based in sound science, as witnessed by the NOAA decision last year to push whale watch boats even farther away from the Orcas in the San Juans. Having read the science behind the decision, I have to feel that there was more politics at play than reasonable science based decision making.

In the notion of “following the money”, it would be interesting to know who owns the ranches that were granted the free ride, and whether those people donated to any major political campaigns or not.

http://www.marinij.com/basketball/ci_22090541/drakes-bay-oyster-company-will-have-leave

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Taylor Shellfish Denied Mussel Farm Expansion in Thurston County

Posted on November 19, 2012 by Al Bergstein

Thurston County Commissioners have denied Taylor Shellfish’s mussel farm permit because cumulative impacts were not adequately considered. This doesn’t seem to mean that Taylor cannot come back with more data. The refusal had to do with not presenting what the Hearing Examiner, a lawyer by trade, felt was compelling cumulative impacts of the proposed farm.

The legal precedent behind this decision appears to have been from a variety of already resolved lawsuits, including one by the coalition of a group of six citizen organizations that have been fighting the expansion of shellfish farms, mainly in the South Sound.

Again, it’s interesting to note that the Puget Sound Partnership did not weigh in at all on this case, for either side.

Read the short PDF of the ruling here. There is a longer document of the actual findings from the Hearings Examiner available on line if you wish.

http://www.co.thurston.wa.us/permitting/hearing/decisions/2012/961372.bocc.decision.taylor.pdf

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Ocean Acidification Panel Discussion at NW Straits Annual Meeting

Posted on November 4, 2012 by Al Bergstein

A panel discussion on ocean acidification kicked off the 2012 NorthWest Straits Annual MRC conference on Friday. Speakers Brad Warren of the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership, Bill Dewey of Taylor Shellfish, Representative Norma Smith of the 10th District, and Jeff Watters of the Ocean Conservancy all discussed their points of view on ocean acidification. We are both cursed and blessed by being on the forefront of this issue, and these are people doing a lot of research and investigation into the problems it poses for us. Download or listen on line. The final 5th broadcast has some problems in not having a mic for the first two questions, and not restating them, but I think you’ll figure out the questions from the answers.

UPDATE: I’ve had some folks mention that the sound levels even at maximum, are too low. While it appears to be happening mainly on Macintosh computers, I’ll be updating these with slightly higher volumes in the next day or so.

2012 NW Straits Brad Warren on Ocean Acidification 1 of 5

2012 NW Straits Annnual Meeting – Bill Dewey on Ocean Acidification 2 of 5

2012 Nw Straits- Representative Norma Smith on Ocean Acidification – 3 of 5

2012 NW Straits Jeff Waters – 4 of 5

2012 NW Straits Annual Meeting Part 5 of 5 – Ocean Acidification Panel Q&A

This content first appeared on the Olympic Peninsula Environmental News.

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Dr. Lawrence Dill Net Pen Presentation Now Online

Posted on August 23, 2012 by Al Bergstein

If you are concerned about the latest proposals to bring net pen aquaculture to the Strait of Juan de Fuca (5 miles west of Port Angeles), or are concerned and unclear about the current standoff by the Department of Ecology and the Jefferson County Commissioners over allowing in water net pen aquaculture in Jefferson County (through the Shoreline Master Program updated), then you should take the time to listen to this lecture (it runs over an hour in total). It is, to be sure, one of the most comprehensive overviews of the possible negative impact of net pens I’ve ever heard, and is based on research done just north of us, in BC. While Dr. Dill clearly states that there are variations of environment between there and here, the issues are ones that we may face if they are allowed here. Then again, as pointed out in the Q&A session at the end, by the manager of one of the net pen companies south of Bainbridge Island, some of these issues have not shown up (though that comment was not based on peer review independent scientific research, but on experiential information. It was not independently verified and simply is presented as the point of view of the farm manager).

Dr.Dill is one of the foremost researchers on sea lice, and has a lot to say about the “possible” negative impacts of net pen aquaculture based on years of scientific, peer reviewed, published work. He was brought to lecture in Port Angeles last week, by a consortium of environmental groups concerned about the proposals for net pen aquaculture in Jefferson and Clallam counties lately. The event was sponsored by the Coastal Watershed Institute, Wild Salmon Center, Sierra Club Activist Network, and Olympic Peninsula Chapter Surfrider Foundation.

His talk was titled:
Evolutionary & Behavioral Ecology and Earth2Ocean Research Groups of Simon Fraser University, British Columbia, Canada presented:
POTENTIAL NEGATIVE ECOLOGICAL CONSEQUENCES OF OPEN NET PEN SALMON AQUACULTURE: LESSONS FROM BRITISH COLUMBIA

The discussion included:
• The impacts that salmon farms can have on wild salmon stocks
• Recent research on sea lice and other pathogens.
• How the iconic Fraser River sockeye salmon have been put at risk by salmon aquaculture.
• Degradation of the bottom communities below the farms.
• Pollution, by-catch of other fish species, escapes, and inadvertent or intentional reduction of marine mammal populations.
• New potential open pen aquaculture projects near Port Angeles.

The introduction by Anne did not have a microphone so it’s a bit noisy. Dr. Dill did have a microphone on, so it sounds better when you get to him speaking. The video was published in two parts. A shorter 10+ minutes to allow you to get the gist of the presentation, and the rest of the presentation in Part 2. The audio podcast is presented in it’s entirety.

You can view Part 1 of the lecture online at https://vimeo.com/47903851.

Part 2 is located at
https://vimeo.com/47906547

Or you can listen to it online at:

http://soundcloud.com/mountainstone/dr-lawrence-dill-netpens

I am adding the links above to the “Educational” links on the left hand side of the front page. You can always find it there if you need to refer to it later. Thanks to Dr. Dill for allowing the sponsoring groups to videotape the presentation, and offer it to those who were unable to make it to the discussion.

Dr. Larry Dill on Net Pens

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Land Based Aquaculture Experiment Unfolding in BC – Globe and Mail

Posted on July 9, 2012 by Al Bergstein

While our County Commissioners continue a stand off with the State Department of Ecology over permitting (or not) fish farms in the county shoreline master program, there is a Canadian “First Nation” experiment happening to see if fish can be farmed economically on land, as our commissioners are requesting. The Namgis Tribe will be funding this, and I would assume our State should take a hard look at whether this works or not.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/first-nation-has-high-hopes-for-fish-farm/article4397084/

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