Does shellfish and geoduck aquaculture clean the water or improve water quality?
A. No, this is false and misleading industry propaganda. Shellfish and geoducks filter and consume phytoplankton and detritus, and excrete feces and pseudofeces as waste. Phytoplankton is an important aquatic plant and nutrient for a number of other aquatic species and is naturally present in the marine environment. The shellfish industry actually wants to install their operations in areas of planktonic abundance. In the wild, geoduck and other shellfish are stimulated to spawn due to increased water temperature and increased plankton blooms. So the argument: ‘shellfish clean the water’ is a totally false and misleading statement. Removing phytoplankton from the water column is not ‘cleansing’ the water at all. Shellfish filter everything out of the water column, including crab zoeas and fish eggs, and although this may temporarily clarify the water, this can be harmful to other species. The shellfish industry’s own scientific studies indicate that shellfish aquaculture actually adds n
