Humboldt Bay supplies the entire West Coast with an outsized number of oyster seeds, making it arguably the most important place in California for oyster production. Climate change could threaten that.Warming waters — under the Representative Concentration Pathway 8.5 projection, Humboldt Bay is expected to heat up by an average of 3 degrees Celsius over the next 70 years — introduce new disease vectors that could wreak havoc on local oyster farmers, but their concerns are more immediate. As Eureka and Arcata become increasingly developed and the Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation and Conservation District builds an offshore wind terminal, oyster companies are wary of the potential impacts on water quality and plankton productivity.“We’re all for wind development, but there are environmental changes, associated dredging and other changes that are going to be associated with that project. There’s just still a lot of questions about what those impacts will be,” Gary Fleener, the science, education and policy director for Hog Island Farms, which has oyster nurseries and a farm in Humboldt Bay, said. “When I am referring to water quality, I want to make sure that it’s clear that I’m referring to it in the largest sense: water quality related to agricultural runoff, urbanization, and certainly development like shipping and wind energy.”Oyster production companies face a twofold issue: warmer waters induced by climate change could have catastrophic impacts on local farms but the offshore wind effort meant to combat climate change’s impacts presents several known and unknown impacts that could end up degrading local water quality.The harbor district is conducting several studies, including a measurement of the specific short-term water quality impacts of offshore wind terminal construction. Drafts of the studies should be made public by May 2025, Rob Holmlund, the harbor district’s development director, said.“I think it’s pretty safe to forecast that, in the long term, there won’t be impacts to water quality because of the project, but during the construction period, there’s dredging and there’s a water construction, but there are very tight regulations about turbidity, what you can do during construction and what you cannot do, and the times of year that you can do in-water construction,” Holmlund said. “Between all of the environmental regulations that already exist and our efforts to minimize water quality impacts, it’s not something I’m really worried about, but I do want to take the company’s concern seriously, so we’re doing extra studies.”Aquaculture companies operating in Humboldt Bay have been meeting with the harbor district every other month for roughly a year, which Holmlund said allowed the district to hear concerns and identify areas of improvement. One such concern, Holmlund said, was disease infiltrating the bay.Ostreid herpesvirus, a disease deadly enough to induce die-offs among oysters, was recently found in the warming ocean waters near San Diego. The disease thrives in water at about 15 degrees Celsius, which Humboldt Bay is expected to reach under the RCP 8.5 projection. In an April symposium, Northern Hydrology and Engineering civil engineer Jeff Anderson estimated that by 2095, the waters in Humboldt Bay will have heated from an average of 13 degrees Celsius to 16 degrees Celsius.If the disease emerges in Humboldt County, the farms might be hit hard, but oyster seed facilities — baby oysters grown in a hatchery resembling an aquarium — might fare better. Fleener said robust biosecurity measures at the hatcheries significantly alleviate his concerns about introducing disease vectors; measures taken because Humboldt County supports the entire West Coast with oyster seed.However, the existence of rules and regulations doesn’t mean slip-ups never happen. In early November, golden mussels — an invasive bivalve native to eastern Asia — were found in a reservoir near the Port of Stockton despite laws mandating inspections of ballast waters before they’re discharged into local waters.“Those regulations failed, so it just points to the need to do a much better job of considering how to limit that risk as we’re increasing vessel traffic related to the offshore wind industry,” Jen Kalt, executive director of Humboldt Waterkeeper, a local environmental advocacy group said.Given Humboldt Bay’s salinity — generally incompatible with the freshwater living requirements of golden mussels — Fleener said the area’s aquaculture companies are not particularly concerned about the species colonizing local waters.Washington state is the largest shellfish producer in the nation, but much of its seed is supplied by Humboldt Bay companies, which altogether sell about 10 million oysters per year and net $6 million in sales, according to harbor district estimates.Keep Reading
A particularly worrisome mussel species has entered North America for the first time through the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta — sparking what many are calling an immediate threat to California’s most significant watersheds.Golden mussels, invasive freshwater bivalves that have devastated ecosystems and critical water infrastructure in other parts of the world, were recently discovered near the Port of Stockton. Limnoperna fortunei appear to have also found their way many miles downstream into O’Neill Forebay of the San Luis Reservoir, where officials in Merced County have been rapidly conducting genetic testing.“The species poses a significant immediate threat to the ecological health of the Delta and all waters of the state, water conveyance systems, infrastructure and water quality,” according to a public alert by the California Department of Water Resources and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. “This discovery is the first known occurrence of golden mussels in North America.”These mussels probably infiltrated California by a ship traveling from an international port and are likely to spread throughout the Delta and through the water infrastructure associated with the Delta, officials said in a statement. “Without containment, golden mussels are likely to spread to other freshwater bodies in California, and to other ports and inland waters of North America, and abroad.”Keep Reading
Wave energy has been untapped so far, but an experiment could unlock its potential in the United States.NEWPORT, Ore. — At a moment when large offshore wind projects are encountering public resistance, a nascent ocean industry is showing promise: wave energy.It’s coming to life in Newport, a rainy coastal town of nearly 10,500 people located a couple of hours south of Portland. Home to fishing operators and researchers, Newport attracts tourists and retirees with its famous aquarium, sprawling beaches and noisy sea lions. If you ask anyone at the lively bayfront about a wave energy project, they probably won’t know much about it.And yet, right off the coast, a $100 million effort with funding from the Energy Department aims to convert the power of waves into energy, and help catch up to Europe in developing this new technology. The buoy-like contraptions, located several miles offshore, will deliver up to 20 megawatts of energy — enough to power thousands of homes and businesses.As federal officials look to shift America’s electricity grid away from fossil fuels, they are seeking alternatives to solar and wind, which can deliver energy only when the sun shines or the wind blows. Waves — constant and full of untapped energy — have emerged as a promising option. And because wave energy projects are relatively unobtrusive, they are far less controversial than offshore wind, which has generated fierce opposition on both U.S. coasts. In September, the Biden administration announced that up to $112.5 million would go toward the development of wave energy converters, the largest federal investment in marine energy.There is enough energy in the waves off America’s coasts to power one-third of all the nation’s homes, said Matthew Grosso, the Energy Department’s director of the water power technologies office.Keep Reading
On Thursday, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife pushed out crabbing season to mid-December in the wake of a dozen whale entanglements.Between May and October 2024, four humpback whales were entangled in California Dungeness crab fishing gear and eight were entangled in unidentified gear, prompting CDFW to delay the season, as it begins during a whale migratory period.The decision did not surprise the state’s commercial crab fishers or environmental groups lobbying for stricter protections for migrating whales.“I think what people would appreciate, what fishermen would appreciate mostly is for the Fish and Wildlife Department to just tell us well in advance what it is, if I’m supposed to be hurrying up now getting ready for December 15,” Mike Cunningham, a Eureka fisherman and crabber said.Given the delays that have happened with regularity over the past several years, Cunningham floated the idea that the season could just start on Jan. 1 after the threat of entangling or striking whales is reduced.Keep Reading
In September, a couple of rusty old trains, parked at the Balloon Track in Eureka for over two decades, were dismantled into heaps of scrap metal. On Monday, the company that owns the trains was fined for spilling diesel fuel and engine oil from the beasts during the operation.The notice of violation, issued by Humboldt County Environmental Health on Monday, said DEH staff responded to a report on Sept. 13 of hazardous materials released at the site.“Some of the diesel fuel and engine oil within the locomotives had been contained in four 55-gallon drums, but significant amounts of fluids remained within the locomotives during dismantling. Dieselmotive staff neglected to sufficiently remove these fluids or provide adequate containment to prevent releases directly to the ground,” the NOV said.Keep Reading
