February 25, 2025
On February 10 and 11, Washington Sea Grant (WSG) hosted its annual Shellfish Growers Conference, another successful gathering of the event that has brought together shellfish growers, researchers, Tribal members and representatives and state and federal agency representatives for more than 30 years.
The theme of this year’s conference was community. At the Alderbrook Resort in Union, WA, where the conference is held each year, attendees put that theme on full display, from happy reunions in the hallway and introductions during the lunch break to after-conference discussions at the restaurant and bar.
WSG staff host an outreach table at the 2025 Shellfish Growers Conference.
In her welcome address, Melissa Poe, WSG assistant director of outreach, highlighted the fact that conference attendees included faces both new and experienced. Poe began by welcoming those attending the conference for the first time, asking them to stand. When they sat back down, all who had attended the conference more than once rose from their seats. “Now stay standing if you’ve been to this conference three times. Now stay standing if you’ve been to this conference five times. Ten times,” Poe instructed, as those standing were met with applause. Even when Poe reached thirty years of attendance, several in the audience still stood proud.
Washington state is the nation’s lead producer of farmed clams, oysters, and geoducks, with an estimated annual harvest worth more than $107 million. Shellfish farming is important to the state economically and culturally; at the same time, the industry faces a host of challenges, from warming and more acidified waters to pests like burrowing shrimp. Growers need up-to-date scientific information to manage their farms, while scientists and agency representatives seek grower feedback that helps to make research and regulations suitable and useful. In response, the Shellfish Growers Conference provides a venue to share updates – on the growing season, ongoing research projects, agency processes and more – and for attendees to connect not just professionally, but as people.
The conference takes place over a day and a half, during which a variety of presenters give short talks on different topics of interest. This year’s presentations were split into five categories: Pest and Species Management; Legislation and Regulations; Harmful Algal Blooms and Biotoxins; Planting and Production; and Ecosystem Interactions. Day 1 included presentations on invasive European green crab’s impacts on manila clams; different potential treatments for burrowing shrimp in shellfish beds; new rapid tests for paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) in shellfish; and one particularly memorable talk on “pumpkin spice oysters” (note that despite the name, these oysters don’t have an autumnal flavor; rather, they are stained orange from filter-feeding on a type of non-harmful alga). Presentations on Day 2 pivoted to the role of shellfish in coastal ecosystems, exploring opportunities for co-production with eelgrass, the prevalence and impacts of oyster drills, and more.
Zach Forster of Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife presents on “pumpkin spice oysters.”
However, several presenters yielded much of their time to hear from the people gathered in the room — a gesture fitting the “community” theme. “One of my favorite [recent] additions to the conference is the grower feedback session, where growers list their observations and a team from the Department of Ecology records and aligns them with oceanographic data,” says Ashleigh Epps, WSG aquaculture specialist and lead organizer of the conference. “This session has received a lot of good feedback from conference participants as it embodies the purpose of the conference, which is to bring the industry members together.”
Researchers with overlapping interests were able to interact in real time, too. After two graduate students had presented on potential ways to control burrowing shrimp – a native pest whose burrows cause sediment to compact and suffocate nearby shellfish – a third student presented on gray whales that enter Puget Sound to feed on the shrimp. One of the earlier students asked whether information about where the whales were feeding was publicly available. “As someone who is trying to control shrimp, I don’t want to interfere with the whales’ food source,” she explained.
By the end of the two days, attendees had connected about every piece of the shellfish puzzle, from oyster genetics and the tiniest parasites to whole nearshore ecosystems. Attendees had marked another year of their favorite conference traditions, whether walking the trails near Alderbrook or savoring a meal. In a changing world, the information and resource needs of the shellfish industry will continue to change too – and the Shellfish Growers Conference will help partners and stakeholders meet what’s next.
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Washington Sea Grant, based at the University of Washington, helps people and marine life thrive through research, technical expertise and education supporting the responsible use and conservation of coastal ecosystems. Washington Sea Grant is one of 34 Sea Grant programs supported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in coastal and Great Lakes states that encourage the wise stewardship of our marine resources through research, education, outreach and technology transfer.
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FEB
2025