After reading the article “Concerns Remain over Tribe’s Oyster Farm in Dungeness Bay” (PDN, Feb. 4) I’ve discovered that various studies arrive at conflicting conclusions regarding some of the issues relating to oyster farm operations.
Where the research agrees: eelgrass is critical in supporting layers of biospecies, including migrating fish that are important to our region economically.
Eelgrass also serves as a global carbon sink that helps decrease acidity in ocean water.
Given this nonnegotiable importance, coastal eelgrass beds must be protected from detrimental effects.
These may include the mechanics of oyster-growing and the planting and harvesting involved.
Regarding the state of eelbeds in Washington, documentation describes eelgrass decline on some localized shorelines, but Puget Sound as a whole is holding on to its critically important eelgrass beds.
That said, “What an individual person or jurisdiction does really matters for what is living near that shoreline,” according to Tessa Francis, University of Washington.
Carmen Germain
Port Angeles