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Page A—16 Shelton-Mason County Journal Thursday, Nov. 12, 2020
Hood Canal Shellfish Summit considers connections
By Kirk Boxleilner
kbofleitner@masoncounty. com
The Hood Canal Shellfish Sum-
mit on Oct. heard a perspective
on how maintaining the community’s
connection to shellfish can improve
tourism, education and culture, cour-
tesy of Rachel Hansen, who’s active
with Mason County tourism, Explore
Hood Canal and the Shelton-based
South Sound Mariculture.
A Washington native with a fam- -
ily history of shellfish harvesting,
Hansen has remained active in the
shellfish business, using her market-
ing skills to promote shellfish culture
through regional events such as oys-
ter festivals and as editor-in-chief of
Tracing the Fjord, a quarterly maga-
zine that’s published since 2017.
“People really love our shellfish
here,” Hansen said. “We have a dis-
tinct following.”
Hansen noted the connections that
many people forge to the culture and
the cuisine of shellfish. She recalled
how, in 2017, she partnered with
the Washington Sea Grant and ad-
dressed the need to identify all the
roles that shellfish play in the area’s
communities;
“We would get people to be more
mindful of the health of our waters
and help us try to take care of them,”
Hansen said. She explained that a
literal shellfish “frame” was created
to promote this goal, which was dis-
patched to various community events
and circulated on social media.
A website was created at shellfish-
trail.org to outline locations where
shellfish can be harvested, at both
farms and beaches, and purchased,
and itineraries of shellfish-related
events.
In June, amid the spread of CO-
VID-19, Hansen reported the Wash-
ington Shellfish Trail site was re-
ceiving roughly 400 visitors per day,
which she pointed was a 450% in-
crease from its previous traffic levels.
“The most popular‘thing, it ap-
peared, was the public harvesting,”
Hansen said. “People just loved to
figure out where they could go with
their families.”
To ensure the public would use the
resources respectfully, Hansen said
a shellfish and beach guide, and a
map pamphlet, were created in July,
which has since seen 800 downloads,
“’ * " a. .‘ *5. 4“
fl? ..
A youth stands on a pile of oyster shells in May 2019 at Hama Hama Oyster
Co. in Lilliwaup. Journal file photo by Gordon Weeks
1,000 copies distributed through
visitor information centers and busi-
nesses, and 20,000 printed in Trac-
ing the Fjord issues. Information in-
cluded the types of bivalves out there
and the licenses required to harvest
shellfish.
In 2018, the Washington Sea ,
Grant developed a 10-year coastal
tourism plan to focus on tourism in
connection with harvesting and wa-
ter management. Hansen remarked
that all water-related tourism (not
just shellfish-connected) can affect
a region’s resources, which makes it
critical to share information about
how to reduce negative effects with
communities and prospective tour-
ists.
Tourists to Hood Canal don’t mind
spending “a lot of money,” so long as
they can connect with the environ— '
ment, Hansen said. She cited the
Human Nature Hunting group as
an example of visiting shellfishers
who assemble in small groups on the
Duckabush beach in Quilcene to dig
clams and oysters to eat.
“It’s semething people really iden-
tify with, and when you’re identify-
ing tourists for Hood Canal, these are
things we need to consider,” Hansen
said. “They’re not looking for big, fan-
cy resorts. They’re looking to get that
grit underneath their fingernails.”
Hansen also touted the Hama
Hama Oyster Farm Days as convey-
ing a similarly appealing authentic— '
ity to outsiders, whom she described
as- coming “from all over” for the
event. r
“It’s not perfect imagery,” Hansen
said. “There’s seaweed on the oys—
ters. There’s people outside, getting
muddy and dirty. But it’s real, it’s
fresh, and it connects with the land.”
Hansen advocated working .with
Hood Canal shellfish farmers to more
fully communicate the value of such
assets to their communities.
Hansen acknowledged the “inter-
esting problem” posed by sea otters,
whose resurgence over the past sev~
eral decades has affected shellfish
harvesting, but whose presence has
its own tourist appeal.
“And because of the sea otters, the
sea urchins also died, which brought
back our kelp forests, and essentially
brought back some of our fisheries,”
Hansen said.
Hansen sees no division between
cultural and economic identity in the
area of tourism.
“We need to not ignore it, and in-
clude it in the conversation,” said
Hansen, who hopes that marketing
efforts such as her own help make
Hood Canal “stronger and more sus-
tainable.”
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