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Date Posted: 06:46:32 03/03/08 Mon
Author: Anonamouse
Subject: Geoducks-Why Just Say NO !!!

(Those who want to force this industry on our beaches aren't being honest. There are legitimate concerns and the internet is full of examples of the negative effects of geoduck farming. The other thread was geting too long so here's a new one. Have at 'er...)
Beaches 'Full of Tubes, Netting, Rebar' Geoduck Farm Fight: Round 2
Posted on: Tuesday, 8 May 2007, 06:00 CDT

By Susan Gordon, The News Tribune, Tacoma, Wash.

May 8--Shellfish growers and the waterfront-area residents who oppose geoduck farms are again facing off.

This time, instead of at the Legislature in Olympia, the focus is the Pierce County Council. The council's community development committee Monday heard from both sides in a dispute over proposed limits on intertidal geoduck farms.

But unlike recent hearings in Olympia, where near equal numbers of opposing points of view were aired, most opinions voiced Monday favored increased restrictions on shellfish farms.

And many of those who spoke out said they did so based on experience.

"I'm living on a beach full of tubes, netting and rebar," said John McCormick, who also claims a geoduck farm has caused erosion problems that threaten his home. "You need to come up with some better rules," he said.

Geoducks, pronounced gooey-ducks, are the world's largest burrowing clams. Delivered alive to Asian markets, they also are among Puget Sound's most valuable resources.

For decades, commercial divers have taken wild geoducks from the bottom of the Sound. But in the mid-1990s, growers began to cultivate them.

Opposition among waterfront-area property owners came to a head last year. After months of protests by organized groups of Gig Harbor and Key Peninsula residents, the Pierce County Council asked county planners to change the regulations governing growers. The Pierce County Planning Commission endorsed the changes in January.

State shoreline law specifically cites aquaculture as a favored shoreline activity, but Pierce County requires growers to get permits.

More than 30 people turned out for Monday's hearing. No official action was taken and Councilman Calvin Goings, the committee's chairman, continued the meeting until May 21.

Besides putting limits on geoduck farms, the proposal also would impose new restrictions on residential docks, piers and floats.

But it was the geoduck regulations that got most of the attention Monday.

The proposed changes would limit most new farms to rural areas, primarily along the Key Peninsula, and would prohibit them in densely populated places near Gig Harbor.

The regulations attempt to reduce litter by forcing growers to mark their gear and pay as much as $1 per growing tube to guarantee removal.

The permit changes also would prohibit geoduck cultivation near eelgrass beds and other sensitive areas, such as sand lance and surf smelt spawning grounds.

Representatives of the Pacific Coast Shellfish Growers Association on Monday said they oppose the modifications. Although they did not spell out their criticism during the hearing, paperwork submitted to council members calls the new restrictions unnecessary and contrary to state shoreline law.

Growers say they're doing as much as they can to collect loose growing tubes and other gear. They also say clams and other cultured shellfish improve water quality.

On Monday, Orin Souers, a Mayo Cove property owner who plans to lease his family's tidelands to a geoduck grower, accused opponents of blocking the county's permit process with lies and distortions. Nothing in the scientific literature suggests clam farming does damage, he said. "Geoducks have been here forever," he said. "What's the holdup?"

The new geoduck rules would apply only to farms that have not already been been authorized.

McCormick was among several Key Peninsula neighbors whose complained bitterly about a nearby Taylor Shellfish Farms geoduck tract that they said has damaged an otherwise pristine shoreline.

Virginia Hebron angrily pulled broken geoduck tubes out of a bag to show council members the kind of stuff she said she typically collects from the beach.

The 12-acre Taylor Shellfish Farm, on Case Inlet north of Joemma Beach State Park, is one of two geoduck farms now active on Pierce County tidelands, said Taylor spokesman Bill Dewey.

The other, operated by Seattle Shellfish in nearby Whiteman Cove, is similar in size.

Earlier this year, the County Council delayed action while the Legislature weighed in on the dispute.

In April, lawmakers endorsed a measure introduced by Rep. Pat Lantz, D-Gig Harbor, that authorized scientists to research the environmental impacts of geoduck farming and put a limit on lease of geoduck tracts on state-owned tidelands.

What's NexT

The Pierce County Council's community development committee took no action Monday on proposals to restrict geoduck farms and limit piers and docks. The committee will take up the proposals again May 21 at 1:30 p.m.

Susan Gordon: 253-597-8756

susan.gordon@thenewstribune.com

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