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SEQUIM — Taylor Shellfish Farms has started the permitting process to establish a 30-acre geoduck farm in Dungeness Bay.
The proposed geoduck farm would be the first shellfish farm operated by the company in Clallam County.
“We have a pretty robust permitting and review process but would love to start farming as soon as possible,” Diani Taylor, fifth-generation farmer for Taylor Shellfish Farms, told the weekly Sequim Gazette.
Farm installation is expected in the spring, according to the Washington State Joint Aquatic Resources Permit Application, the newspaper said.
The 350 acres Taylor Shellfish officials seek to lease are on privately owned property known as Dungeness Farms.
Taylor Shellfish officials plan to stagger planting within 0.5-acre to 5-acre parcels in any given year.
At full build-out, geoducks would inhabit up to 30 acres of a nearly 98-acre project area.
Although it fluctuates, geoducks currently are being sold at $30 per pound through Taylor Shellfish Farms.
The company, based in Shelton, describes itself as the largest producer of farmed shellfish in the United States.
Among its holdings is a geoduck seed hatchery on Dabob Bay in East Jefferson County.
Anne Shaffer, Coastal Watershed Institute executive director and marine biologist, is concerned about possible effects of the farm on eelgrass beds, surf smelt and sand lance-spawning habitat and the nearby Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge.
Laura Hendricks, citizen representative for the Coalition to Protect Puget Sound Habitat, also objected to the plan.
“Our main concern is the expansion of shellfish aquaculture into natural habitats,” Hendricks said.
Taylor Shellfish officials said they will use a plot siting and adaptive management plan to minimize potential side effects.
Examples include 16-foot buffers from the 17-acre eelgrass bed in the area and kelp beds, no seeding of culture conducted in eelgrass or other biological sensitive areas, ongoing monitoring of surrounding environment and adapting farming procedures, regular patrolling of surrounding area to retrieve any debris and conducting harvest activities during tides when the least amount of turbidity will occur.
“There will be no net negative impacts,” according to the company’s permit application.
“Shellfish harvest may result in local and temporary effects, but not long-term effects.”
Historically, the area was used for shellfish farming, but pollution had degraded it.
A shellfish protection area was implemented, and the bay has since reached a quality suitable for farming, Taylor said.
“We know all about the project and don’t have a problem with it,” said Kelly Toy, shellfish management program manager for the Jamestown S’Klallam tribe, which once had an oyster farm in Dungeness Bay.
Toy said geoduck farms can provide refuge for juvenile salmon and a variety of prey species.
Also, geoducks are filter feeders and can improve water quality, Toy said.