Tide is turning for two Taylor Shellfish farms

Local resident, DNR, county all reviewing geoduck activities

Paige Richmond

of the Gateway

Taylor Shellfish Farms, the Shelton-based shellfish farming company well known for raising geoducks, is facing a number of challenges in the coming months.

The company took a hit earlier this year when the Pierce County Hearing Examiner ruled that the Substantial Shoreline Development Permit at the Foss Farm — the Key Peninsula location where geoducks are raised — had expired after five years, meaning the company had to cease all activity on the land.

Although Taylor appealed the hearing examiner’s decision, the case is slowly moving through Thurston County Superior Court, where it was transferred due to legal reasons.

Taylor has continued to meet criticism by local residents and may face an investigation by the state’s Department of Natural Resources.

“Our state government has given them favored status, and no one has watched them,” said Laura Hendricks, a harbor resident and co-founder of the Henderson Bay Shoreline Association. “They think they own the shoreline.”

Hendricks has been a longtime critic of geoduck farming, which she and her organization — The Coalition to Protect Puget Sound Habitat — believe destroys both the physical appearance and environmental quality of the shoreline.

Hendricks has been personally following Taylor Shellfish’s business activities, especially those on Totten Inlet in Thurston County, where the Washington State Auditor and Department of Natural Resources are reviewing boundary lines on the parcel of land where Taylor farms.

Hendricks asserts that Taylor has been using state-protected lands to raise geoducks, which she claims would make the company liable for poaching. The DNR is currently conducting a survey of those lands and has not yet concluded whether Taylor is legally operating on private lands or operating outside of its boundaries.

The company cannot plant or harvest shellfish on the Totten Inlet until the survey is complete. Coupled with the revoked permit on the Foss Farm — Taylor cannot plant or harvest there, either — two of the company’s geoduck farms are at a standstill, causing a financial bind.

“It’s been a substantial loss,” said Taylor Shellfish spokesman Bill Dewey, who estimates the company has lost $20 million on the Foss Farm property alone. “There’s two years of lost crops. And we’re not realizing any revenue off the farm because we can’t harvest anything.”

Dewey feels the permit issue and boundary dispute were simply errors. The company “relied on the county’s guidance and decisions” when applying for the substantial shoreline development permit on the Foss Farm in 2000, he said, adding that they were told the permit would not expire.

Dewey said Taylor also farmed within the same boundaries at Totten that the previous owner did, and that farm was never cited for using state land.

These errors have become bigger issues than they should because geoduck farming is controversial, Dewey said.

“There’s nothing intentional, particularly in Totten,” he said. “If it weren’t for the geoduck issue, it wouldn’t have come out. It’s just an error, and we’re working to resolve it.”

Rich Doenges, Aquatic Resources Division Manager for the DNR, confirms that any mistake on Taylor Shellfish’s part is “an unintentional occupation” and said that the company is “reputable.”

Still, Dewey said, Taylor is “frustrated by how it has been treated by the government lately,” particularly how Pierce County has handled the permit issue.

Taylor Shellfish is asking for $25 million in financial damages from the county for lost revenue.

It will be a few months before anything is decided on the appeal, said Pierce County Prosecutor Jill Guernsey. The case was moved to Thurston County to avoid a conflict of interest within Pierce County, since the county’s hearing examiner is named in the suit.

Dewey said Taylor Shellfish is optimistic about the permit and hopes to find a solution that will allow them to farm that area.

In the meantime, the company will continue to lose money while waiting on the decision. That loss could affect Taylor’s farming operations down the line.

Hendricks, for one, is not concerned about the company’s future, since she hopes to keep geoduck farming out of Pierce County.

“We’ve seen what is happening in other counties,” she said. “That’s why we’ve been fighting to keep the gates closed in Pierce County, because we don’t want them coming here and doing those same things to us, whether it’s our land or our neighbors’.”

Reach Reporter and Columnist Paige Richmond at 253-853-9243 or by e-mail at paige.richmond@gateline.com.