Drayton Harbor Is on the Skids Again

Geoff Menzies volunteers as the chairman of the Drayton Harbor Shellfish Protection District’s Citizens Advisory Committee and works as a contractor with the Puget Sound Restoration Fund, a Seattle–based nonprofit, to manage the Drayton Harbor Community Oyster Farm and related projects that focus on shellfish restoration and pollution control in Drayton Harbor. He has served on the Whatcom County Planning Commission since January 2002.

In spite of 20 years of community planning and nonprofit community oyster farming efforts since 2001, water quality in Drayton Harbor is on a downward slide. Since 2004, shellfish harvesting by the Drayton Harbor Community Oyster Farm has been allowed under a “Conditionally Approved” classification. Rainfall amounts in excess of three-quarters-of-an-inch in a 24-hour period cause the runoff of fecal bacterial pollution at levels that make shellfish consumption temporarily unsafe.

Under these rain events, oyster harvesting is suspended for a week in order to allow the oysters to cleanse themselves before harvesting is reopened. This condition of repeated harvest closures does not support investment in a large-scale commercial oyster farm in Drayton Harbor. In spite of this situation, the Puget Sound Restoration Fund has been able to grow and sell oysters commercially and on a small scale for the past five years. Revenue from the sale of these oysters has been reinvested in pollution cleanup projects in the watershed. This is all about to change.

The Washington State Department of Health (DOH), which is responsible for classifying commercial shellfish growing areas, is changing the shellfish harvesting conditions based on their review of recent water quality data. As of this coming fall, Drayton Harbor will have a “seasonal closure” from November through February. This is the wet season and happens to be the time of year when bacteria levels in marine waters are the highest due to watershed saturation and pollution runoff into the harbor. Unfortunately, it is also the prime oyster harvesting season.

The Washington State Department of Ecology has recently completed a year-long Total Maximum Daily Loading (TMDL) study of the watershed. Thirty-two of 36 sites that were sampled violate freshwater standards for fecal coliform bacteria. That’s right, 90 percent of the sampling locations throughout the watershed are polluted with fecal coliform bacteria. It is no wonder that DOH considers it unsafe to harvest oysters from Drayton Harbor.

The Puget Sound Restoration Fund partnered with Whatcom County, the Trillium Corporation, and the EPA to conduct a microbial source tracking (MST) pilot study in the California Creek portion of the watershed. This study documented widespread bacterial pollution from livestock (cows, sheep, pigs, llamas etc.) in fresh water and less common but present contamination from humans (septic systems) in some drainages as well. The Whatcom County Health Department has used these findings to focus inspection, maintenance, and repair of septic systems in these high-priority areas.

Following the successful completion of this study, Ecology incorporated MST methods in the 2008 TMDL study. Limited MST work has now been done in high-priority sites in the Dakota Creek drainage, and some high-priority areas of California Creek were also re-sampled in this second phase. Sixteen sites were sampled in this phase 2 MST study. Human waste was detected at 9 of the sites and livestock waste (ruminant) was detected at 6 of the sites.

State and local agency representatives were brought together this May to discuss the preliminary results of this most recent MST study. It is clear that the Whatcom County Health Department continues to incorporate these findings into their septic system inspection and maintenance program. They have agreed to send out letters to homeowners in each of the drainages where human waste was detected in order to schedule inspections.

The various agencies that have responsibility for livestock waste management (Whatcom County, Ecology, and the Washington State Department of Agriculture) have a less aggressive approach to using these findings, but they are interested in the results and have agreed to use them in various ways. A final report on this Phase 2 MST study is due in August 2009.

As recent watershed studies and marine water quality show, Drayton Harbor continues to be impaired by fecal coliform bacteria. In spite of Whatcom County Council’s most recent acceptance of the cleanup plan for Drayton Harbor, funding to implement this community plan has always been marginal, never enough to actually get the job done efficiently.

In addition to a low level of funding, the county also does not have a commitment to enforcing existing laws that are on the books, particularly regarding the small farm planning element of the Critical Areas Ordinance, which is called CPAL. Complaints on small farms with quite obvious livestock management problems have gone unattended for years in many cases, without either the development and implementation of farm plans or adequate enforcement action when landowners refuse to comply with the laws.

There seems to be a culture to “not enforce” some existing laws in this county for fear of a backlash from property rights advocates or simply low prioritization of this form of pollution by the County Planning Department. Community health and water quality suffers as a result. County staff who are responsible for implementing the CAO become frustrated once cases are turned over to enforcement because little if anything happens and cases are returned to them for more education and outreach, rather than enforcement of the law, once it is absolutely necessary. Why have the laws in place if they are not properly enforced?

In addition to the challenges of working with these many small farms in the watershed, the situation with commercial dairies is not much better regarding enforcement, even when there are known discharges of manure from fields. There was a field application of manure this spring that preceded a rain event, which washed huge concentrations of fecal coliform bacteria into nearby ditches and eventually into Dakota Creek.

This discharge was documented by WSDA, but it appears that because the manure was applied by a third party (not under contract with the dairy farmer), neither he nor the farmer are liable under current law, according to WSDA staff. EPA was following the case, but because the farm does not have an NPDES permit, which would allow them to discharge under specific/extreme conditions, EPA has chosen not to take any action and is no longer tracking the case.

I’m not sure where Ecology is on this one, but it seems they are not in agreement with WSDA’s interpretation of the law. Bottom line is that at least in this case, the state law, which regulates dairy farms with the intent of protecting surface waters from contamination, does not allow any financial penalty even with a proven discharge that is backed up by water quality monitoring results. Where is the protection for the public and for the resources downstream that are impacted?

These programs and specific situations like the one above influence DOH when they classify shellfish-growing areas like Drayton Harbor. They are not confident that adequate measures are being taken to reduce pollution from livestock in the Drayton Harbor watershed. This sense, combined with the marine water quality deterioration, leads them to the pending seasonal closure in Drayton Harbor. They simply do not have confidence that existing programs are rigorous enough to allow shellfish harvest during the wet season.

So what does the Community Oyster Farm do now?

We are concerned that if we throw in the towel after eight years of hard work and thousands of hours of volunteer time to plant, process and sell oysters that marine water quality will decline further and threaten the long-term recovery of Drayton Harbor. Shellfish farmers are the front line on non-point pollution.

This problem is not restricted to Drayton Harbor. Samish Bay is having more of a struggle than ever to maintain water quality on a consistent basis. Our concern is that if we don’t maintain a presence in Drayton Harbor, local, state, and the federal government will do even less to protect Drayton Harbor.

With the pending seasonal closure in Drayton Harbor, we are considering shifting to a Community Supported Aquaculture “CSA” program for the next three years. Shareholders would see a return on their investment in the form of yearling oysters from March through May, when conditions are usually favorable for harvest. If we get the critical mass to launch this project we will seed again this summer and for the next few years at least. If not, we will probably pull up stakes in Drayton Harbor knowing that at least we gave it our best shot.

If you want to play a role to keep oyster farming alive in Drayton Harbor and if you like to “taste the sea” as so many others in the community do, consider becoming a shareholder in this CSA venture. Contact Geoff Menzies ASAP at geoffmenzies@comcast.net

To learn more about the Puget Sound Restoration Fund and all of our efforts to recover clean water in Drayton Harbor, check out http://www.restorationfund.org. §

Geoff Menzies
Drayton Harbor Community Oyster Farm Manager
360-384-9135