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Readings for Week 7: Shellfish In WashingtonTuesday, May 09Today we are going to look at the local context of shellfish agriculture, by examining the environmental health of the ecosystems where the critters are grown.Begin by looking at parts of Puget Sound Partnership's Report on the Puget Sound Vital Signs. It is long and detailed, but contains a lot of useful charts and tables. Please read over the Introduction and the chapter on performance management, and then skim through the vital signs section, looking especially at those vital signs indicators and targets in the sections on water quality, healthy human population, and habitat that are particularly relevant for shellfish production (you should know by now what they are). After you have done this, but by midnight on Monday, May 8, please please post 200-300 words on why you think the various initiatives to restore Puget Sound have made so little progress. Then we take up the continuing controversy, begun in 2015, over spraying the neurotoxic pesticide imadocloprid to kill parasitic mud shrimp in the oyster beds of Willapa Bay and Gray's Harbor (the substance is not being used in South Puget Sound where we will be visiting). Please begin with this Seattle Times article and then proceed to a good journalistic summary recommended by a shellfish biologist, and to the protests lodged by the National Marine Fisheries Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and finally the reply by the Washington State Department of Ecology, a news story about a renewed application for a permit, and a story from a local newspaper that reflects the farmers' viewpoint. Thursday, May 11Today is about geoducks. In class, we will feature a guest presentation by Professor Glenn VanBlaricom on the ecological effects of geoduck farming in Puget Sound. In preparation for the talk, start with Ted Williams's Muddy Waters, a nice journalistic account of the controversy over geoduck farming, and then proceed to the science, reading slowly and carefully McDonald et al.'s report on the Effects of Geoduck Aquaculture on local ecology, Then, by 7 p.m. on Wednesday, May 10 (so that our guest can get a heads-up) please post two good questions you would like to ask our guest about shellfish aquaculture and its impact on Puget Sound.We will also go over the schedule and expectations for our Friday, May 12 field trip, including watching a fun video. The relevant part starts at 24:12; I could no longer find a stand alone recording. Additional Resources you might want to look at include:
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