IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Dec. 13, 2011
SEATTLE — Washington will become the first state in the nation to create a panel to address increasing acidity in its marine waters. Governor Chris Gregoire revealed her plans to name a blue ribbon panel to advise the state on strategies to deal with acidification as part of a new initiative to expand the shellfish industry, announced at Taylor Shellfish Farm in Shelton, Washington on December 9, 2011. The group will begin meeting early in 2012 and make its recommendations before the end of next year.
Gregoire made the announcement jointly with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Administrator Dr. Jane Lubchenco; Brig. Gen. John McMahon, Northwestern Division Commander for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; Billy Frank, Chairman of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission; and Bill Dewey, Policy and Communications Director for Taylor, the largest American producer of shellfish. About 100 stakeholders and media attended. Brad Warren, Sustainable Fisheries Partnership’s Director of Ocean Health, pledged his organization’s help. “SFP is already supporting monitoring by the Pacific Coast Shellfish Growers Association and developing plans to extend monitoring capacity more widely in US and international waters. With leaders like Gov. Gregoire, Bill Dewey, NOAA’s Richard Feely, the Tulalip Tribes’ Terry Williams and Ron Sims coalescing around ocean acidification, Washington will provide a model for how to spur jobs, restore habitat and turn crisis into opportunity. A perfect storm is forming, but a good one.”
Creation of a Washington state panel on ocean acidification was proposed by SFP and marine scientists following a November symposium on acidification sponsored by Washington Sea Grant. Shellfish producers and tribal leaders championed the plan, and the governor quickly agreed. “If we don’t begin addressing ocean acidification promptly, the future of shellfish farming and the entire seafood industry is at stake,” said Taylor’s Bill Dewey. “All our efforts at marine conservation and resource management will prove inadequate if we don’t tackle the most basic problem of all—our acidifying marine waters.”
In addition to proposing ways to limit the effects of ocean acidification, the Washington Shellfish Initiative’s goals are to:
• Expand, promote and improve shellfish production in Washington and create jobs in the industry;
• Increase opportunities for and improve access to public tidelands for recreational shellfish harvesting;
• Restore native shellfish habitat and populations such as the pinto abalone and the Olympia oyster; and
• Improve and protect water quality to help ensure healthy and safe shellfish for consumers and to expand employment for aquaculture workers.
Gregoire noted the direct link between clean water and jobs. “Few people realize how important the shellfish industry is to Washington state, and the potential for job growth. We have a unique opportunity to create good, living-wage jobs – but it will require clean water and partnership to grow this critical industry.” Gregoire said.
Shellfish farming produces $107 million in farm-gate revenues, employs 3,200 people, and contributes $270 million to the region’s economy annually, much of that in economically depressed, rural areas. The Governor intends to provide $4.5 million in federal funds to local governments and the 12 counties surrounding Puget Sound to create pollution identification and correction programs that fix residential septic systems and runoff from livestock and other sources, the major cause of acidification in the Sound.
NOAA Administrator Lubchenco noted that “The Washington Shellfish Initiative is the first regional implementation of a national effort to increase the commercial production of shellfish and restore native shellfish habitats and populations that NOAA launched in June.” To support the state’s effort, Lubchenco announced a $200,000 grant for restoring the native Olympia oyster, which was once common from Baja California to Alaska. Former King County Executive Ron Sims, freshly returned from serving as Deputy Secretary of the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, prompted the idea for a panel to advise the state on acidification when he spoke at the Sea Grant symposium in November. Sims, who serves on the leadership council guiding restoration of Puget Sound, challenged scientists in the standing-room-only crowd to come up with succinct, actionable intelligence to counter the acidification threat. “Keep it simple for the public and the policy makers,” was his advice. “Don’t get bogged down in details. Give us something we can understand and act on.”