The Pacific County Commissioners passed a State of Emergency Declaration for the oyster industry on October 23 due to the increasing pandemic of ghost shrimp in Willapa Bay. For the past several years the population has steadily increased and shellfish farmers have been left with no options to combat the issue.
Continued Battle
Pacific County and the Washington State Department of Ecology have been in a heated back and forth for approval to use the pesticide carbaryl for aquatic uses.
The Department of Ecology then made a suggestion to use imidacloprid as an alternative. They then quickly backtracked on the recommendation sighting a concern raised from non-spray groups of the impact it would have on bee populations. A concern the Pacific County Commissioners are disagreeing with.
The Washington State Department of Agriculture has also been in on the battle with even their request for approval is denied. Olson said that for awhile the state was working with the county and farm owners and it was looking like the alternative would be approved. But those talks abruptly ended and the state has been unwilling to talk or even budge on the issue. Each request since has become a steadily no with DOE refusing to even explain.
In 2015, The Department of Ecology requested oyster bed growers to pull the permit to use imidacloprid and wait a year for things to cool down. Three years later, growers are still waiting for an option from the state to combat the quickly spreading shrimp. "Obviously that [request to pull the permit] was just a ploy,"
Pacific County Commissioner Lisa Olson said. "Now it is just absolutely steadily no. They've reversed their position on their own science. It's really corrupt."
The Risk
The ghost shrimp create a burrow system in the floor of the bay that creates a mucky, soupy mess that oysters just sink into. If the problems continue the flats will become a barren wasteland that nothing can survive in according to Olson. "The eelgrass will die," she said. "Once the eelgrass dies that is the end of the habit for small salmon and Dungeness crab. To feed and hide and get big enough to viable. So those two industries will follow if it truly is their [DOE] feeling that the spray is so much more detrimental to the bay then for us to control the shrimp. They are going to kill the bay."
Crab populations have dwindled in the past 5 years and the fishery has been rocked with delays and immature crabs. While salmon populations have also been on a steady decline. In October the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife closed Willapa Bay and its tributaries to all salmon fishing for about two weeks. Chinook salmon returns were at an all-time low, but Coho returns were on par with projections. Any risk to the fishery is believed to be critical and necessary to address immediately.
Catch 22
The state allotted $534,000 in the 2017 budget for the Washington State Department of Agriculture to study the impacts imidacloprid has on the mudflats and the surrounding environment. Money of which has, for the most part, remained completely untouched due to any study needing a permit from DOE to spray. To conduct the study a temporary permit would need to be approved for the application of the pesticide.
If a permit were to be granted the ghost shrimp population would then at least momentarily be combated during the study allowing shellfish owners to have a fighting chance and much-needed relief. Unfortunately, the money is earmarked with an expiration date of July 2019 and if the study is carried out by then the money will disappear. State Representative Jim Walsh had been adamant that the money wasn't set aside to hang by a sting and be taken away. Olson and local growers are concerned about the future of the bay if a study isn't completed.
For well over 60 years carbaryl was used in Willapa Bay for control of ghost shrimp and only as of 2013 was removed from the federal registration of approved pesticides that could be used aquatically. Washington State Governor Jay Inslee has taken a strong stance on environmental impacts and has taken drastic measures to address concerns. Several environmentalist groups have long challenged a long list of pesticides being applied to the environment.
Olson disagrees with them on the concern of the pesticides potential harm to bees. She expressed that there are no bees within a mile of oyster farms. She also made note that most pet flea medications have imidacloprid as the main ingredient. "It's not going to hurt anything," she stated. "It doesn't last in the soil. There are studies that show after 50 years of carbaryl there's no sedimentation. There's nothing in the sediment."
5 years will make or break Pacific County
Olson is concerned for the future of Pacific County if the pesticide remains banned and the ghost shrimp population is left uncontrolled. She believes the county has about 5 years left before the industry could become extinct if no actions are taken. "The salmon and crab fisheries are going to follow if this happens," Olson said. "And then we're done. We'll be absolutely handing the keys over to the state because that will be the end of everything."
Without timely action, Olson and oyster farmers believe Pacific County is on the verge of economic disaster. Oysters are one of top sources of revenue in Pacific County and thousands rely on the fishery for their livelihoods. The industry is the number one source of work in the county and is estimated to hold over 1000 jobs.
'The shrimp are showing up in places that they've never been before," Olson said. "There are so many of them."