Shellfish farmer nixes expansion plans

By Liza Mayer  November 1, 2017  

After failing to get crucial permits for its plan to expand operations in Humboldt Bay, California, Coast Seafoods Company is not only abandoning the plan but also shrinking by 21.7 acres its existing oyster and clam farming operations.

“This approach is what the agencies would like us to take,” the company’s Southwest Operations Manager Greg Dale told the Times Standard. “We just want to keep our farm.”

In June, the company was denied permits to expand its operations because it “had not adequately addressed potential impacts to ecologically significant eelgrass beds in the bay” asserted the commissioners who voted against the permit.

The company’s revised proposal will be introduced today at a commission hearing. Under the new proposal the company proposes to plant four test plots to monitor and evaluate the environmental impacts of its oyster and clam farming methods. Specifically, the firm will monitor impact on eelgrass and Pacific black brant foraging in different areas in the northern portion of the bay.

More on the story here.

Coast Seafoods proposes to monitor the impact of its farming methods on eelgrass and Pacific black brant foraging in the northern portion of the bay