 According to Bill Dewey of Taylor Shellfish, "We have to go to everyone
in Puget Sound watershed and get them to change their lives."
After breakfast Simmons, Piper, and I head down to Oakland Bay
to meet Bill Dewey of Taylor Shellfish. Oakland Bay is one of
Taylor Shellfish’s major growing areas. Other than the hum of
machines on the dock, the bay is serene. Across the bay are native
Olympia oyster dikes built in the late 1800s. Between us and the
dikes is a group of clam diggers, part of Taylor’s crew. The tide
is still going out, and not all of the flats are exposed yet.
“This is probably the most productive Manilla clam beach for us
anywhere in Puget Sound,” says Dewey. “The flat we’re looking at
produces about a million pounds of clams a year. It’s an incredibly
productive area.”
Such was not always the case. In fact, not too long ago, Oakland
Bay was dead, killed off by the effluent from the pulp mill in
Shelton.
“There was nothing,” says Dewey, “no barnacles, no crabs, no
marine life out here at all. People used to bring their boats here,
store them for the winter to kill the fouling on the bottom of
their boats.”
Before the effluent killed it, Oakland Bay was the seed source
for much of the shellfish industry in Washington. In an effort to
survive the effects of the pulp mill, the industry switched to the
hardier Pacific oyster. But finally, everything in this bay died.
The mill bought up all the tidelands to mitigate complaints from
the oyster industry.
Finally, the mill shut down in 1958. Justin Taylor, in an act of
foresight that must have seemed crazed to many, bought the
tidelands from Rayonier.
“Gradually,” says Dewey, “the bay has come back.”
The Clean Water Act of 1972 eliminated point sources of
pollution in Puget Sound along with the rest of the country.
Now the problems facing Puget Sound are far less defined, if not
greater.
Dewey is worried about another area of Oakland Bay.
“Another productive area, around that point, is Chapman’s Cove,”
he says. “Sampling results at one of the water quality sampling
stations up there since May have been off the chart, really
bad.”
If the samples don’t improve, the Department of Health may
reclassify the area, says Dewey, which would mean a massive
economic hit to Taylor.
As is the case throughout the Puget Sound, the problem with
Chapman’s Cove is not specific. “It’s nonpoint pollution,” says
Dewey.
Any number of things contribute, including failing septic
systems and domestic animals. In the more urban regions, a major
problem is stormwater runoff. Roadways and parking lots block
rainwater from soaking into the soil, so it washes quickly into the
Sound, along with whatever pollutants it picks up on the way.
Shellfish-growing areas are classified in two ways, says Dewey.
Every 12 years, inspectors walk the shoreline of the whole growing
area and investigate every potential pollution source and test all
tributaries coming into the Sound for fecal coliform. Much more
frequently, the Department of Health samples the water. Following
heavy rainfall, areas can be shut down temporarily. But
consistently high levels of fecal coliform can lead to a growing
area being reclassified.
“Once an area goes down,” says Dewey, “the best turnaround I’ve
seen is four years.”
Nutrient loading of course is also on Dewey’s mind.
“We’ve got oyster beds in a number of inlets in the south Sound
that are growing oysters in half the time they did just six years
ago. It’s not a miracle of genetics. It’s just so much damn
food.
“I hate to kick a gift horse in the mouth,” he jokes.
Miraculous growth is not a good trade.
“What’s happening,” he says, “there’s so much plankton
production that’s going unconsumed, when those blooms die, they
settle out. This time of year, they smother the beds. Inches of
dead algae pile up in a matter of days.
“It’s always been a problem for us. But it’s worse this year.
We’ve had huge losses.
“These are not problems we’re going to solve overnight,” says
Dewey. “These are lifestyle changes that have to happen for the
whole population. We have to go to everyone in Puget Sound
watershed and get them to change their lives.”
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