SEQUIM — Collaboration among many agencies improved shellfish harvesting in Dungeness Bay, said the director of the Puget Sound Partnership at a ceremony honoring those who worked to clean up the bay.
Members of the Sequim-Dungeness Clean Water Work Group were recognized Friday afternoon for their work to upgrade 728 acres of harvestable shellfish beds in Dungeness Bay.
“This is really all about keeping our water clean,” said Sheida R. Sahandy, Puget Sound Partnership executive director, at the ceremony at Sequim Transit Center, attended by about 50 people.
“The partnerships do the hard work,” she aid.
“Every bit of lining irrigation ditches, every septic that is fixed [and] every project that works out there adds up.
“Every part of your community came together to set an example to respond to the call.”
Sequim-Dungeness Clean Water Work Group members honored Friday were:
■ Jamestown S’Klallam tribe, represented by tribal members Kurt Grinnell and Theresa Lehman.
■ Clallam Conservation District, represented by Executive Director Joe Holtrop.
■ Dungeness River Agricultural Water Users Association, represented by President Ben Smith.
■ Clallam County, represented by Andy Brastad, environmental health director.
■ Matt Heins, an active member of the Sequim Dungeness Clean Water Work Group and manager of Dungeness Bay Farms at the mouth of the Dungeness River.
The state Department of Health on Oct. 14 announced that 40 acres had been upgraded from prohibited to conditionally approved for commercial shellfishing, while another 688 acres were upgraded from conditionally approved to approved.
Shellfishing is not allowed in conditionally approved areas during the rainy season from November through January because of the possibility of the presence of fecal bacteria.
Shellfish harvesting is allowed year-round in approved areas.
Key activities that contributed to the recent upgrade include lining irrigation ditches that flow into Dungeness Bay, repairing and replacing septic systems and putting farm plans into practice in the watershed, according to Puget Sound Partnership.
Grinnell said it had been a long process to upgrade the 728 acres in the bay “for a lot of hard working people — not only from the tribe but from the farmers.”
Holtrop agreed that the group has worked on the project for a long time “one farmer at a time, one homeowner at a time — and sometimes we wonder if we are making a difference.”
Oftentimes, “we feel the efforts we are putting in are going unnoticed so this is really a pleasure and really gratifying to get an award and to see the accomplishments that we’ve realized here,” he said.
Said Smith: “I feel like this year was a great example” of collaboration.
“Everybody is digging in, and when we all do that we can make great things happen,” he said.
Puget Sound Partnership is the state agency leading the region’s effort to restore and protect the quality of water in Puget Sound by bringing together hundreds of partners who work to mitigate pollution sources.
As of May 2015, Puget Sound has seen a net increase of 2,851 acres of shellfish beds since 2007, according to the 2015 State of the Sound report released recently by Puget Sound Partnership.
This resulted from the reopening of 7,828 acres for harvest and takes into account the fact that 4,977 acres were closed due to poor water quality.
As of October, the state Department of Health reported a net acreage improvement of 3,813 acres.
Statistics about the number of shellfish beds affected by the program outside of Dungeness Bay in Clallam and Jefferson counties were unavailable Friday.
The partnership’s goal is to achieve a net increase of 10,800 harvestable shellfish acres throughout Puget Sound, including 7,000 acres where harvest had been prohibited, by 2020.
“We still have a lot of work left to do,” Sahandy said. “At this rate, we are not going to meet the 2020 target. We’re still seeing too many shellfish beds getting downgraded because the water is not clean.
“Whether it’s keeping septic systems from leaking or preventing toxins from being washed into our waters by rainwater, we have a responsibility to do the right thing.”
For more information about Puget Sound Partnership, visit www.psp.wa.gov.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Chris McDaniel can be reached at 360-681-2390, ext. 5052, or cmcdaniel@peninsuladailynews.com.
