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Geoduck harvest shows little impact on ecology
By ARLA SHEPHARD
The planting, growth and
harvest of geoduck has little
overall environmental im-
pact on water quality and
the ecology of Puget Sound,
concluded researchers at
a Washington Sea Grant
symposium on the clam this
week.
More than 150 people,
including Mason County of-
ficials and representatives
from the shellfish industry,
gathered for the four-hour
geoduck research sympo-
sium on Tuesday at the A1-
derbrook Resort & Spa in
Union.
Researchers from the
University of Washington
and the University of Mary-
land presented the prelimi-
nary findings of Washington
Sea Grant's six-year pro-
gram to assess the possible
environmental effects of
geoduck aquaculture.
The program, commis-
sioned by the Washington
state Legislature in 2007, is
the first to present scientific
information on the effects of
geoduck farming.
Geoduck aquaculture in
South Puget Sound accounts
for more than 25 percent of
the statewide production of
geoduck, said Glenn Van-
Blaricom, a UW researcher
in the School of Aquatic and
Fishery Sciences.
"[The industry] continues
to grow," VanBlaricom said.
"Now more than 50 percent
of [harvested geoduck] stays
in the U.S. domestic mar-
ket, and the remainder goes
to Asia. Clearly, now the
U.S. market is growing in a
very significant way."
Commercial geoduck
farms typically follow
a three-step process for
harvest: geoduck seed is
brought from a hatchery
and planted on tidelands,
where plastic pipes and
netting are then used for
the next one to two years
to protect the clam from
predators.
After the protective gear
is removed, there, is usu-
ally a four- to six-year grow
Courtesy of Washington Sea Grant
Technician Brittany Cummings collects core
samples at a geoduck-farming site in Case
Inlet, as part of a Washington Sea Grant
program to study the ecological effects of
geoduck aquaculture.
phase before the clams are two plots at least 75 meters
sucked out of the sediment apart at each location.
during harvest. At each site, one plot con-
Groups such as the Sierra rained geoduck aquaculture
Club South Sound chapter studied before, during
and the Case Inlet Hom- and after harvest from
eowners Association have companies such as Tay-
fought in the past against lor Shellfish and Chelsea
geoduck farm operations, in Farms, and the other plot
part due to the lack of exist- was a reference, or control,
ing scientific knowledge on plot.
the effects the industry has Data collection took place
on the environment, from 2009-2011.
VanBlaricom presented Each site had variable
UW research on the ecologi- differences, but overall the
cal effects geoduck aquacul- preliminary results of Van-
ture has on bottom-dwell- Blaricom's study suggest
ing, or benthic, communities that current geoduck farm-
such as small crustaceans, ing practices have minimal
certain types of worms and impacts on benthic commu-
clams, nities.
His research looked at There was also no oh-
six locations around Puget served"spillover" effect from
Sound, including sites in the cultured, or farmed,
Mason County, and took sites to the reference Sites.
samples once a month from "Based on the data ...
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there's no distinguishable
effect of harvest on the com-
munities," VanBlaricom
said.
While some of the sites
experienced a slight decline
in biodiversity during har-
vest, "the communities re-
turned to their pre-harvest
levels quickly," he added.
His research team con-
cluded that while the dis-
turbance of sediment during
harvest appeared profound,
the organisms seemed to
have a natural tolerance for
it.
This is likely due to the
weather occurrences such as
high winds typical in Puget
Sound over a 10-year peri-
od, VanBlaricom said.
Puget Sound is also rela-
tively young -- about 13,000
years old -- which means
that organisms can easily
adapt, he said.
"Significant harvest ef-
fects are questionable," Van-
Blaricom said. "The impacts
of geoduck aquaculture ap-
pear to fall within the range
of natural variation in the
system."
VanBlaricom's fellow re-
searcher Scan McDonald,
also from the UW, gave an-
other presentation on the
effect geoduck aquaculture
has on larger organisms,
including fish and macro-
invertebrate communities
such as sea stars and crabs.
SCUBA divers collected
data monthly during the
summer and bimonthly dur-
ing the winter to count or-
ganisms at six sites, includ-
ing geoduck farming and
reference locations.
Research indicated that
during the time when geo-
duck gear, such as plastic
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pipes and netting, were up,
..... ...... .............................. ~ ,~ ~;~°. ,
organisms such as crabs, ~:i!~~[:
which prefer to hold onto ..... : ~ ~..~i: L " ~i:: e ~ii::::::::?:!iLij~.: ~i~i~:~
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such as certain types offish, I i' ~:~:~::~:~ii~*~:~'~Y~ ;~~
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Shelton-Mason County Journal- Thursday, Dec. 9, 2012 - Page A-5