Community Concerns

Here at home we have beautiful beaches where people are free to walk for miles. These beaches traditionally have been used for recreation. Some of us are lucky enough to call this our home. It has long been both, recreational and residential.

Aquaculture companies want to establish farms in recreational and residential neighborhoods changing the area into places of commercial industy.

Parks should be protected from aquaculture that could break loose and become a hazard to children and families playing in our public waters. Buffers should be placed around these areas, or sited away from them. To the right, is Purdy spit, a popular Pierce County Park, where windsurfers have reported injuries from abandoned pipes and getting caught in long ropes used for the farms. To the left is the boat launch and dock at Joemma State Park. The crews were there the night before maintaining their adjoining geoduck farm and missed this debris. Could it be they can't possibly retrieve all their gear, or did they not patrol the adjoining park when they were there?

Of what we have seen, once one farm gets established, the geoduck companies seek more leases nearby. The farmer of this beach told us that his first farm started with the house on the left, then the others joined on. It would be difficult to preserve your own beach, if all your neighbors were having their's farmed. Our concern is that our neighborhoods and recreational areas would be lost to industy.

Use of waterjet extraction methods "emulsify" the beach from 3 feet down. Existing aquatic creatures could be disturbed or killed by this commercial harvest. The picture on the top is our beach, currently untouched. The picture on the bottom is in Totten Inlet and has been farmed. There is life with sandworms that you can see in the top photo, also horse clams, moonsnails, butter clams and sand dollars, that you can't see. We did not see any mature sealife in the commercial farm that we visited as pictured above.

Loose tubes can travel long distances from their farms. In the photo to the right, the tubes traveled with tides up to a mile before they were abandoned here. Geoduck companies say they maintain their tubes, but these are from two different companies, in two different regions of Puget Sound.

These workers are not limited to daylight hours. Harvest is commonly done in the middle of the night when the winter tides are low. They use water jets that are powered by diesel engines from a boat. During a public meeting a shellfish company official said these harvests can last for months. They also harvest more than once in a season since they don't get the full crop on one try. They also use lights for these harvests and even for periodic maintenence during the middle of the night. Rotations of plantings and harvests could mean continual activity.

Beaches that host one form of aquaculture often add other types, as this beach (upper left) in Totten inlet has. Other aquaculture like mussel rafts, fish pens, etc. could be brought in. Our beaches could become a flurry of commercial activity and noise. The upper left picture has geoducks and oyster bags, to the right are fish pens.

Geoduck barges such as this currently can remain on site in residential and recreational areas indefinitely. This particular vessel has remained for years, caught on fire, broke loose of it's moorings endangering a public bridge, washed ashore several times, cost taxpayers money for rescue, and has allowed the bags containing thousands of plastic pipe to deteriorate. Large waves build on this shore and could easily spill hazards into the water.

Where will your children and grandkids play? Which beach will you share with them?