We’ve all met them. People who aren’t satisfied, regardless of what you do. That’s the dilemma faced by Taylor Shellfish Farms of Shelton, a family company that has been growing oysters and geoduck in Puget Sound for more than 100 years.
Taylor Shellfish finds itself under relentless attack by a small band of waterfront homeowners and some “environmental” groups over shellfish beds in Puget Sound tidelands.
Their main focus is geoducks, giant clams that burrow deep into the sand.
Greatly prized as an Asian delicacy, geoducks and shellfish farming have breathed new life into rural economies devastated by the loss of timber jobs.
Geoducks seem an unlikely target. As they grow, they and other shellfish filter out impurities in the water, leaving it cleaner than before.
Geoducks grow deep in intertidal beach sands and are harvested once every four to six years. And because geoducks require pristine water, shellfish farmers are fierce advocates for clean water.
Still, some south Puget Sound waterfront homeowners have created “environmental groups” and marshaled others to campaign against geoduck farms, claiming they are hazardous and that the harvest techniques damage the environment.
They offer only speculative reports and no science to support their claims. Research by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans in Canada shows harvests have only minimal, short-term impacts and preliminary results of a University of Washington study suggest the same.
The relentless attacks puzzle the folks at Taylor Shellfish, who have dedicated much of their personal and professional lives to protecting the environment.
In 2005, the company’s environmental leadership earned them the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Excellence Award.
In 2006, Sen. Maria Cantwell presented Bill Taylor with her Defender of our Natural Heritage Award.
That same year, Gov. Chris Gregoire asked Taylor to serve on the Puget Sound Partnership Blue Ribbon Panel, and today he serves on the Board of the Puget Sound Restoration Fund and the Cascade Land Conservancy. In 2008, company manager Bill Dewey, one of the founders of the Skagit Conservation Education Alliance, won NOAA’s Environmental Hero Award for the countless hours he’s spent protecting water quality, marine resources and supporting sustainable aquaculture.
As Audubon Magazine reported, Taylor Shellfish has tried to be responsive to critics’ concerns:
• When waterfront homeowners complained that the short white plastic nursery tubes used to protect baby geoduck were too visible when the tide went out, Taylor changed to gray tubes.
• When critics complained they couldn’t identify who was responsible for loose PVC tubes on their beaches, Taylor invented a machine to brand each tube.
• When they complained that some of the nets and rubber bands placed over each nursery tube to protect the baby geoducks could be dislodged, Taylor switched to a single net that covered the entire bed.
• When a fledging bald eagle landed on a net and got caught, critics complained again, and Taylor pledged to go back to small individual nets near active eagle nests.
• When waterfront homeowners complained about the noise of gasoline pumps used during harvest, Taylor switched to diesel pumps enclosed in insulated boxes.
Still, the anti-geoduck campaign continues. Nothing, it seems, is ever good enough. The question is whether the opposition is an environmental issue or a classic case of NIMBY – not in my back yard. Or rather, in this instance, NIMWV — not in my waterfront view.
Reasonable regulations and environmental safeguards are appropriate. But Taylor and other shellfish farmers are being targeted by opponents who apparently want their way at all costs.
The attacks on shellfish farming are out of proportion and jeopardize an economic lifeline for embattled rural communities. Shellfish farming is Pacific County’s largest private employer and is the second largest in Mason County. In today’s troubled economy, we should be trying to keep people working, not trying to destroy their jobs.
Activists plan to take their anti-shellfish farming campaign to incoming Public Lands Commissioner Peter Goldmark, who must decide whether to uphold a lease settlement involving Taylor Shellfish. We trust he will consider Taylor’s exemplary environmental stewardship and the benefits of shellfish farming and come down on the side of working families.
Don Brunell is president of the Association of Washington Business
