Geoduck farm presentation

What: Taylor Shellfish Farms’ presentation regarding a proposed Dungeness Bay geoduck farm

When: 2 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 11.

Where: Dungeness River Audubon Center, 2151 W. Hendrickson Road.

The second floor of the Dungeness Schoolhouse was standing room only Saturday where community members gathered to learn about a possible 30-acre geoduck farm in Dungeness Bay.

The well-attended meeting was coordinated by citizen representative for the Coalition to Protect Puget Sound, Laura Hendricks, and reviewed the potential adverse implications associated with shellfish aquaculture and specifically Taylor Shellfish Farms’ proposed geoduck farm in Dungeness Bay.

Both Leslie Ann Rose, representing Tahoma Audubon Society, and retired University of Oregon law professor and member of Alliance For Puget Sound, Maradel Gale, gave short presentations, allotting the remaining time for a panel to answer public questions. The panel consisted of marine habitat specialist consultant Jim Brennan, Rose, Gale and Hendricks.

“To me the idea of putting an installation right by a wildlife refuge is about as asinine as anything I can imagine,” Gale told those attending Saturday’s meeting.

At their project location offshore from the mouth of the Dungeness River and neighboring the eastern border of U.S.` Fish and Wildlife Service Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge, Taylor Shellfish officials plan to stagger planting geoducks within 0.5- to 5-acre parcels in any given year.

At full build-out geoducks are planned to inhabit up to 30 acres of a nearly 98-acre project area within an even larger 350-acre 14-year lease between Taylor Shellfish Farms and Dungeness Farms, Inc., a duck hunting club.

The aquaculture project proposed by the United States’ largest producer of farmed shellfish is still in its preliminary phase, but fifth-generation farmer for Taylor Shellfish Farms Diani Taylor hopes to submit their permit application soon.

Although Taylor said they’ve been working toward potential shellfish aquaculture in Dungeness Bay for a while now, at the earliest farm installation is not anticipated until spring, according to the Washington State Joint Aquatic Resources Permit Application (JARPA).

The Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe once had an oyster farm within Dungeness Bay, but because of reoccurring closures the farm wasn’t economically viable, Kelly Toy, shellfish management program manager for the tribe, said. To assist with bettering the bay’s water quality, the tribe worked closely with the Washington State Department of Health to identify pollution sources contributing its degraded state.

Representatives from the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe attended Saturday’s meeting, but had no comment at the time, however Toy told Gazette staff in November the tribe knows “about the project and doesn’t have a problem with it.”

“This is a fine gathering of people to talk about this issue,” Ralph Riccio, shellfish biologist for the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe, responded when asked if anyone from the tribe was present at Saturday’s meeting. “It’s clearly one-sided right now and I think representatives from the tribe, Taylor and these organizations should have a conversation.”

Although the presenters at the meeting tended to focus on the possible longterm and environmental impacts associated with the geoduck farm, Hendricks told those attending, “It’s really good for the community to hear both sides, but in the past we’ve tried to be at the same table as industry and it really isn’t productive.”

Among the audience were four representatives from Taylor Shellfish Farms.

Taylor said they weren’t invited to speak and thus didn’t, but company officials chose to attend because it’s “our project and we feel it’s important to be present to hear the community’s concerns.”

Taylor encourages interested individuals attend the upcoming Dungeness River Management Team meeting in February because “there are always two sides.”

At the DRMT meeting Taylor Shellfish Farms officials will be presenting on the project and be available to answering questions, she said. “We were there (on Saturday) to listen and be a responsible project proponent and hear any community concerns,” Taylor said. “Nothing at that meeting was a big surprise to us or unique.”

A wide variety of impacts related to geoduck aquaculture were discussed including the pollution of equipment used to cultivate the geoducks during the first couple of years, such as rubber bands, plastic tubes and netting. Additionally, the effects on the substrate and marine organisms within that habitat after extracting the geoduck using hydraulic wands were discussed, as well as the visual and noise impacts of geoduck farming. Other concerns that surfaced were possible impacts to surrounding real estate values and the overall danger geoduck farming poses to the Dungeness Bay ecosystem, including the diverse species of birds that frequent the nearby wildlife refuge.

“There’s a huge push for aquaculture,” Brennan said. “Ultimately, in my mind, because aquaculture affects public resources, the public should be able to decide where it can go.”

Brennan became more interested in aquaculture and policy after working for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and noticing some of the inequality when it came to the state’s approach toward managing the industry. Brennan was formerly with the University of Washington’s Sea Grant Program and the Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation Governing Board and past president of Pacific Estuarine Research Society.

“I think we are at that point with shellfish aquaculture that we were with shoreline armoring and we know there are adverse impacts,” Brennan said. “But, are we willing to take a precautionary approach?”

The more truth, transparency and information, the better people can make informed decisions, Brennan explained, as it’s not about eliminating the industry, but instead giving it limitations.

Already, Hendricks has been asked by community members to stay involved with this project, she said.

“We (Coalition to Protect Puget Sound) don’t come into a community unless we’re asked,” Hendricks said. “What we’re concerned about is what’s best for the community and the next generations. We’ve been stressing to people in each community that they really need to have a plan established to manage this industry.”

Given Clallam County’s Shoreline Master Program (SMP) is under public review, Hendricks suggest that as a good opportunity for citizens to get involved with creating guidelines as to where aquaculture can be located.

“As of right now, it (the geoduck farm) will go through the county’s conditional use permit process,” Mary Ellen Winborn, Clallam County Director of Community Development, said.

Given the geoduck proposal will require a conditional use permit, the community will have ample opportunity to provide public comment and review information on the farm.

Winborn anticipates getting the county’s planning commission involved with reviewing Taylor Shellfish Farms’ proposal because in many ways Winborn feels shellfish aquaculture, and specifically the proposed geoduck farm, is similar to marijuana in that it is an industry with economic incentive, yet has potential negative impacts. Thus, it’s important to “identify where it belongs and provide citizens with a sense of certainty,” she said. The world-renown shellfish farm includes 11,000 acres of tidelands along the Washington coast and British Columbia, with numerous farms around the Puget Sound, but the proposed geoduck farm would be the first shellfish farm operated by the company in Clallam County.

A public forum on the Clallam SMP is scheduled at 6 p.m., today, Wednesday, Jan. 14, at John Wayne Marina, 2577 West Sequim Bay Road. Additionally, a Clallam County Planning Commission public hearing on the SMP is scheduled at 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 4, at John Wayne Marina.

Reach Alana Linderoth at alinderoth@sequimgazette.com.