Taylor Shellfish Farms shares thoughts on aquaculture

By Chris Fitzgerald, KP News

The KP News has followed the rise in geoduck farming applications and the opposition they generate for the last 18 months. Opponents have successfully stalled all Pierce County permits, charging geoduck aquaculture with habitat and environmental destruction. While many voices pro and con have been heard on the subject, Taylor Shellfish Farms, the primary leasehold-administrator for both private and state aquaculture, has remained silent. In early December, Bill Taylor, now running the privately held family companies along with his brother, Paul, and brother-in-law, Jeff Pearson, sat down for an interview with the KP News to share some thoughts about his family’s 117-year-old enterprise.

Taylor Shellfish Farm family owners (left to right) Paul Taylor, father Justin, brother Bill, and brother-in-law Jeff Pearson, on a boat off the coast of Canada inspecting an aquaculture operation. Photo courtesy TSF

TSF has roots in the Shelton area going back four generations. Taylor Town on Highway 101 is a commercially developed parcel once owned by an uncle who envisioned the time when a major highway would replace the sleepy country road. Taylor’s headquarters are located just off the road from there, on a complex that began decades ago in one-half of an aunt’s house and has since expanded to include a recently built multimillion-dollar processing facility.

Taylor’s business mix includes a 15-year-old aquaculture facility/hatchery in Mexico, and a hatchery opened in an aquaculture business park on the coast of Kona in Hawaii in 1993. Early in 2000, Taylor expanded again with a pearl farm in Fiji. The company has a sales outlet for aquaculture products in Hong Kong, and exports both fresh and frozen shellfish worldwide. Its most lucrative U.S. geoduck markets are in Asian communities in California and New York; even so, 50 percent of the geoduck crop is shipped live overseas. Locally, geoduck can be found at Seattle farmers’ markets. (Current wholesale prices average $11.50 per pound.)

KP News: Claims have been made that Taylor is just out for money. Knowing what you know now, would you still farm geoduck?

Bill Taylor: Yes, as a business we want to make money. We also believe our success lies in diversity – working with a broad range of species. We always consider the marketplace and are fairly well-known for other products, such as oysters and clams.

KPN: Is geoduck growing that easy and lucrative?

BT: It fits into the aquaculture mix; I wouldn’t say it’s our most profitable species. Growing seed is not easy. We wish we could plant more geoduck. They are more sensitive than other shellfish and are in the hatchery for the first two months of life. Problems in the last few years have been (marine) bacteria, which can affect shellfish larvae.

KPN: What is causing the bacteria? Are ocean “dead zones” affecting coastal operations, such as the Mexico facility?

BT: We don’t know the bacterial source. The effect on coastal hatcheries is unknown, but it is a major limitation. Potential upwelling from dead zones exists all the time. Does it affect immediate stocks? I’m very sure it does; it’s probably why geoducks live so long – progeny. We deal in death; it’s a real constraint.

KPN: Do you consider yourself an environmentalist?

BT: Absolutely. We had a quick lesson in pollution in the 1920s, when a Shelton pulp mill bought all the tidelands and pumped pollutants into the bay. Back then, it was an issue of jobs, not environment. The Olympia oyster was wiped out, impacting South Puget Sound. The mill has been gone since 1959. We continue to work in land-use planning, septic, and stormwater issues at all levels. We are very committed to the communities we live in and our clean environment. That’s how we stay in business.

KPN: How do you respond to opponents’ call to halt new farms until more science is available?

BT: The science will never be all done — agriculture and food production change. We’d still be hunter/gatherers without change.

KPN: How do you view the risk of geoduck-only crops?

BT: Business always has some level of risk. Shellfish in general are low risk; this is not a nuke plant, puts no feed into water. Generally, aquaculture produces no negative effect. We’ve adapted since we’ve begun farming geoducks. For instance, we found if geoducks are crowded, their growth is stunted. Current planting methods increase the survival rate. We’d be ecstatic if we didn’t need the tubes, and are trying to find other alternatives. Aquaculture is like having a waterfront garden — it all depends on the perspective of neighbors.

KPN: What do you say to allegations that Taylor Shellfish Farms is intrusive and ignores visual and environmental concerns?

BT: With geoduck, we are seldom on site. I think a lot of this issue involves people moving into rural areas who really want a suburban environment. The farmers and timber industry are in conflict with that. I grew up in a rural area where people grew up on natural resource-based jobs — this is a rural area and rural things should happen. We are on a culture collision.

KPN: Is every state and private tideland a potential geoduck farm?

BT: No. Just because a tideland has sand beaches doesn’t mean geoduck will grow. We work with the department of health on water quality and pollution issues. The Northwest has changed so much in 30 years; so many of our shorelines are being developed, bringing in more pollution. We’re losing what Puget Sound looked like. Without water quality, our business does not exist; these are health issues on a national level.

KPN: Do you see a compromise succeeding between industry and opponents as geoduck farming currently exists?

BT: The current problems will be resolved in the courts; this is not new for us. In July 2007, we successfully concluded an 18-year court case with the tribes over shellfish rights. I don’t have a clear vision of what will happen in the next two years. We are not going to go away. We’ll advocate for our priorities from a high road.

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