News

Coastal commission rejects Coast Seafood oyster farming expansion

6/9/17

The California Coastal Commission voted 6-5 this week in Arcata to reject Coast Seafood Company’s bid to expand what commission staff called the state’s largest shellfish farming operation.

After hearing several hours of public testimony and staff reports debating the expansion project’s potential impacts to the Humboldt Bay’s ecosystems and recreational uses, Commissioner Mary Shallenberger urged her colleagues to vote no on the 165-acre expansion because she felt it was “way too big” and had too many unknowns.

Opponents to the project — such as Audubon California — applauded the commission’s vote. Audubon California filed a lawsuit against the project earlier this year challenging Coast Seafoods’ environmental review of the expansion and claimed the project would irreparably impact eelgrass in the bay.

Humboldt Baykeeper Director Jennifer Kalt said the commission’s denial was surprising due to aquaculture being a priority of the California Coastal Act.

“The oyster industry has come a long way since the days of killing bat rays and dredging eelgrass off the mud flats in the 1990s,” Kalt said Thursday. “And it actively protects water quality, which is critical for oysters, eelgrass and many other aquatic species. We hope the project can be further refined to address outstanding concerns.”

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Humboldt Bay Dredging Faces Setbacks From State and Federal Agencies

5/15/17

Dredging on Humboldt Bay could be done this year. So why is that such a big deal? Because it's been a decade since the bay has been cleaned and some 80 million gallons of mucky, goopy sludge has piled up. But in order to dredge the bay, the harbor district and city of Eureka need approval from the Environmental Protection Agency, along with other federal and state agencies about where to put that gunk. And those approvals are moving about as fast as boats in thick mud.

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No relief funds for crab fishermen: What next?

California crab fishermen discuss consequences of poor seasons

5/13/17

After four years of poor crab and salmon fishing, including one of the worst crab seasons in recent memory, local fisherman and Eureka resident Bob Borck decided in November that it was time to move on. After selling his fishing vessel — the Belle J II — of four years in January, Borck is now planning to start work as a contractor.

“I couldn’t be married to the boat,” he said Friday. “I’ve got enough family responsibilities on shore that it was too difficult to dedicate it to everything it needed to be.” Borck said he isn’t walking away from the industry completely if the right opportunity presents itself. But he said isn’t pining to return to it either, especially following a “pretty hard financial beating” after toxic algae blooms closed the 2015-16 Dungeness crab season for six months, placing many fishermen into debt.

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EPA Says Eureka, Harbor District Should Have Known Dredging Disposal on the Beach Wouldn’t be Allowed

5/5/17

Until late last week, the City of Eureka and the Humboldt County Harbor, Recreation and Conservation District, the two agencies responsible for performing maintenance dredging, planned to dump the dredge spoils on a beach along the Samoa Peninsula, as they have for years.

EPA public affairs officer Bill Keener said beach dumping is not allowed because the sediment from the bay is primarily composed of fine-grain silts and mud, making it inappropriate for the surf zone on sandy beaches. “However, the 1998 permit for the Harbor’s dredging was inappropriately issued by the [U.S. Army] Corps of Engineers allowing continued surf-zone disposal,” Keener explained. “[The] EPA, the Corps, and the Coastal Commission all agreed to allow that permit to stay in force, in order to give the Harbor time to plan (and budget) for a different dredging operation after the permit expired in 2008.”

EPA Rejects Eureka/Harbor District’s Plan to Dump Dredge Spoils on the Beach

5/3/17

Time for a Plan B.

Back in March, Eureka Parks and Recreation Director Miles Slattery outlined a plan for where to put the sediment that has accumulated along the bay floor at the Woodley Island Marina and Eureka’s public marina. Both the City of Eureka and the Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation and Conservation District had agreed to pursue a plan to deposit the sludgy dredge spoils on a beach on the Samoa Peninsula. That’s where such materials have been deposited for decades, including last time the marinas were dredged, back in 2007.

But yesterday, in a conference call with staff from the Harbor District and the City, officials with the Environmental Protection Agency rejected that plan in no uncertain terms.