Questioning AquacultureDear Editor, I'm surprised these days how much good press is going to the aquaculture business. Just yesterday I heard KPLU do a morning edition interview with someone who was extolling the virtues of oysters as a renewable resource that filters the water and is yummy too. So there are those who would find my skepticism abhorrent. I must be against bivalves, against water filtering or against tasty crustaceans. My concern is due to seeing up close and personal just how our waterways have become over-run with the business of aquaculture. I've seen, with my own eyes, piles of starfish raked together to die in a heap to free up the shoreline for the insertion of plastic tubes to house three baby geoducks, in a density far beyond natural capacity, with nets to tangle the feet of bird predators. And not just a little bit. Whole beaches with bags of oysters, dedicated to aquaculture, so that the idea of any other living thing competing with the cultured crustaceans is unlikely. I've learned the owners of the beaches lease out the tidal area to these aquaculture businesses, who then can treat the beach as their own. These same landowners put "do not trespass" signs up for beach walkers. And who would want to walk a beach that has become a factory? Mussel rafts, chained together and floating in narrow inlets, are essentially another kind of factory. All of it inadequately supervised and under-regulated. But Taylor Shellfish gives away tasty treats at every opportunity, in a savvy attempt to create the impression that their industry has no ill effects on our waterways. In the Puget Sound, the life forms that do not offer aquaculture a money crop, are suffering and dying. That includes birds and biota necessary for a healthy marine environment. Please go look, then stop believing the stories about how these businesses are helping our Puget Sound by filtering the water. That is not the whole story, not by a long shot. - Zena Hartung
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