Working with Southwest Washington shellfish growers, WSG is leading a three-year, multi-partner, applied research project to assist planning and collaboration amongst tideland managers, owners and regulators in the coastal communities of Willapa Bay and Grays Harbor, Washington. The study aims to sustain shellfish aquaculture in the two bays by establishing a collaborative ecosystem-based management framework to identify solutions to current challenges, such as ghost shrimp overpopulation, and to provide support for ongoing participation from tideland managers, owners and regulators.

To date, the WSG team leading this effort has successfully created for the first time a “working advisory group” comprised of stakeholders and completed a 2-day workshop to be followed by an online workshop this spring. Other outcomes include a literature review summarizing key ecological interactions and identifying knowledge gaps in coastal Washington’s shellfish aquaculture industry; a series of public workshops highlighting these knowledge gaps

• WSG Washington Shellfish Aquaculture Study
• Workshop 1: Information Needs