Governor’s shellfish initiative ignores the coast

Gov. Chris Gregoire’s Shellfish Initiative, released last month with some fanfare, touts the importance of the shellfish industry for the coast of Washington, but gives absolutely no money to help support the coastal industry or address the sources of pollution that may be impacting it.

Instead, the Shellfish Initiative awards millions of dollars to the counties around Puget Sound to create pollution identification and correction programs and fix failing septic systems.

Grays Harbor County Commissioner Terry Willis says it’s yet another blow to coastal communities, noting that the state continues to focus on programs to clean up Puget Sound, while paying little attention to the coast.

“I think it’s imperative that we have shellfish businesses down here and for her to send that much money and/or all of the money to Puget Sound, that’s almost irresponsible,” Willis said. “It’s like we don’t acknowledge that we even have that big of a market. I think the other commissioners would agree we need to make sure she’s pointedly aware of it.”

Karina Shagren, a spokeswoman for Gregoire, said that the Shellfish Initiative will eventually include coastal issues.

“By no means does the governor not understand the values of our coastal waters,” Shagren said. “This is not some oversight. It’s a statewide initiative and coastal waters are important to the initiative.”

Asked if there was some timeline or future date as to when coastal communities could expect to apply for grants, Shagren replied, “This is in the very beginning. It’s in the early stages and things like this take time. But by no means do we want anyone to have an idea by that they’re excluding the coast from this initiative.”

On Jan. 17, the House Agriculture & Natural Resources Committee conducted a workshop on the Shellfish Initiative. Keith Phillips, a policy adviser for Gov. Gregoire, testified that the state would like to include the outer coast more, but has not yet figured out how to do that.

“Most of the funding we had is tagged for Puget Sound, so we’re looking for other funding for the outer coast,” Phillips told committee members. “The basic information (from the Shellfish Initiative) is of use on the coast, but we’re unable to devote resources to the coast because the federal money was tagged for Puget Sound.”

State Rep. Brian Blake, D-Aberdeen, said that he, too, was disapointed to learn that there was no funding allocated for the coast.

“It should disappoint all of us that the federal delegation specifically tagged the money to be used on Puget Sound only,” Blake said.

Grays Harbor Environmental Health Director Jeff Nelson said he’s working with officials in Pacific County and hopes to draft some kind of letter for both the Grays Harbor and Pacific County commissioners to approve, pointedly asking the state for funds to work on pollution identification projects that could affect the shellfish industry.

“We have water quality problems and most of it is non-point sources,” Nelson said. “We need funding to go out and investigate whether it’s septic, farms or animals. That’s a part of the process.”

Nelson notes that the state Department of Ecology is mandating the county develop a Shellfish Protection area on the North Beach because of an increase in effluence. Plus, there are the septic tank issues in the Illahee and Oyehut areas.

Dave Nisbet, the head of Goose Point Oysters at Bay Center, said he’s not yet convinced that the state will devote money and resources to the coast.

“They always focus on Puget Sound,” Nisbet said. “But, unlike Grays Harbor, Willapa stays relatively clean. Willapa may be the ugly sister but it’s clean.”

But Nisbet says his waters are only clean because of the relatively low population nearby.

A “white paper” about the importance of the shellfish industry, which outlines the goals of the governor’s Shellfish Initiative, notes that the state’s shellfish growers directly and indirectly employ more than 3,200 people and provide an estimated total economic contribution of $270 million to the state. The industry is the largest employer in Pacific County, the report notes, and the annual razor clam digs contribute an estimated $22 million value to the coastal economies.

Gov. Gregoire launched her shellfish initiative last month in Mason County in hopes of growing the industry and providing even more jobs.

Gregoire announced that $2 million in federal funds would be given to local governments in Puget Sound to create pollution identification and correction programs. The grants will fix residential septic systems and address runoff from livestock and pet manure, as well as boat holding tanks, according to a press release from her office. Her office also plans to distribute another $1 million in federal grants to help local health departments in the 12 counties that border the Sound identify, inspect and fix failing septic systems and another $1.5 million to help prevent manure from reaching area shellfish beds. There’s also a $200,000 grant to help the state restore the native Olympia oyster.

Brady Engvall, the founder of Brady’s Oysters near Westport, said he was surprised to learn that the governor isn’t providing funding to help the local governments on the coast.

“Willapa Harbor is probably the biggest producer in the United States,” Engvall said. “Surely, some money should be coming to the coast. … There are failing septic tanks all over the place and we know that. Luckily, for us, it doesn’t impact us on a daily basis directly and we haven’t gotten closed down because of them.”

Instead, his oyster beds have been closed down because of effluence coming from the pulp mill in Cosmopolis, an issue that still happens even with the new owners at Cosmo Specialty Fibers, he said. That’s an issue that still needs to be worked on, he said.

Gregoire also plans to create a blue ribbon panel to look into ocean acidification issues. Nisbet says he already has monitoring stations outside his oyster beds that shows his waters are more acidic today than they were years ago. He says he’s seen oyster larvae die at an alarming speed in his own hatchery and has been forced to build a facility in Hawaii just to handle his oyster seed since the coastal waters are no longer dependable.

“We’re all wondering how, exactly, the governor plans to look into ocean acidification because it’s here to stay,” he said.