Penn Cove Shellfish Company will be leaving Quilcene Bay after farming mussels there for nearly 25 years.
The company, based in Coupeville, will continue harvesting in Quilcene until August, according to Ian Jefferds, general manager of Penn Cove Shellfish. The company currently has a permit application pending with the Army Corps of Engineers to move 10 of the Quilcene mussel rafts to their main farm location in Penn Cove.
This will mean a loss of 20 employees and $1 million in payroll that went into the local economy, Jefferds said. Six of the employees are residents of Quilcene, while the others come from Port Townsend, Sequim and Shelton.
“It’s a devastating loss for us and our employees,” he said.
Moving out of Quilcene was not the company’s choice. Because of objections from the Skokomish Tribe, the Department of Natural Resources did not renew Penn Cove’s lease for aquaculture in Quilcene Bay.
Efforts to reach tribal representatives for comment — two phone calls to the tribe’s attorney and tribal office and a followup email — were unsuccessful.
The Skokomish Tribe first objected to Penn Cove’s operations in 2018, when Penn Cove applied for permits with the Army Corps of Engineers and Jefferson County to expand their operation in Quilcene, proposing to add nine raft clusters to the 15 existing ones.
According to DNR spokesperson Joe Smillie, Penn Cove was operating within the Tribe’s “usual and accustomed fishing areas.”
Treaties signed with western Washington Indian Tribes in 1854 and 1855 reserved the right for Tribes to harvest fish and shellfish from all usual and accustomed fishing areas in common with citizens of Washington.
Jefferds said the Tribe cited this along with a handful of environmental concerns as the reason for their objection to Penn Cove’s operation in Quilcene.
“We went down and did some negotiations, but about a month after we had begun they withdrew all offers,” he said.
In 1994, Judge Edward Rafeedie upheld the right of Treaty Indian Tribes, or their successors in interest, to harvest up to fifty percent of the harvestable surplus of shellfish from natural shellfish beds. To implement the ruling, the state created a procedure for notification of Tribes about DNR aquaculture leases and potential harvest agreements on state lands.
Because the Tribe objected to it, the Army Corps of Engineers would not issue a permit that Penn Cove needed for their lease to be renewed with DNR.
“All of our leases are dependent on having full permitting,” Smillie said.
Jefferds said Penn Cove offered many alternatives to the Tribe to try and mitigate any loss they might have to their fishing season.
“We would like to discuss opportunities where we can assist the Tribe to continue to help environmentally,” Jefferds wrote in a letter to the Tribal Council. “Previously we had discussed removing debris or wreckage that is preventing Tribal fishing access, dock removal, purchasing uplands and transferring that area to the Tribe to ensure fishing access, or enhancing the Tribal fishing fleet.”
Jefferds wrote that Penn Cove would consider assisting the Tribe in habitat enhancement of the Skokomish estuary, relocating the rafts to another location in Hood Canal, or partnering with the Skokomish Tribe in the mussel raft operation, giving them a portion of the mussels grown. Jefferds said he tried to attend a meeting with the Tribal Council, but when he arrived he was asked to leave the building.
“We do not truly understand the motivation for the Skokomish Tribe to remove the mussel farm from Quilcene Bay, other than they feel that it conflicts with their right to fish there,” he said. “I am hoping that we can reopen a negotiation towards an agreement which works for the Tribe and our company in a mutually beneficial way which would allow our company to maintain our mussel farm in Quilcene Bay and hope not to antagonize any party through our efforts.”
Not only will the move cause Penn Cove to lose employees, but it will impact their production.
The Quilcene farm sometimes acted as a back-up production site when the Penn Cove farm was closed due to red tides, a Coupeville sewer spill, and other issues in the cove.
The move also affects the Port of Port Townsend’s revenues. Penn Cove Shellfish rented two slips at the Herb Beck Marina in Quilcene, which is owned by the port. Jefferds said they paid for moorage and fuel there, as well as employing residents of Quilcene.
According to the port’s director Jim Pivarnik, the biggest impact from Penn Cove leaving will be a drop in fuel usage. Penn Cove bought around $7,500 in fuel each year, he said.
But some residents of Quilcene had mixed feelings about Penn Cove’s operation there.
“The issues we had with Penn Cove were about their heavy machinery and trucks breaking up the launch ramp and parking lot and making a lot of noise all day long,” said Anne Ricker in an email response to questions from The Leader. Ricker is a member of the Linger Longer Committee, a group of people concerned with the well-being of the marina and environment in Quilcene Bay.
“They also monopolized the launch most of the day, making everyone else wait,” she said.
According to Pam Petranek, port commissioner, Penn Cove’s usage of the ramp causes wear and tear.
“I have sat there firsthand and watched their usage of the ramp,” she said. “They have a huge machine that rolls up and down the ramp continuously during the day. That’s a huge wear and tear.”
The marina at Quilcene is in need of dredging and repair, and is one of many items on the port’s list of backlogged infrastructure needs.
Jefferds said when the Penn Cove first arrived, there were concerns about sharing the launch ramp, but that the company’s crews stopped going out on days when the marina was in heavy use—such as during spot shrimp season.
But the Linger Longer Committee’s main issues lie with Penn Cove’s neighbor and co-owner, Coast Seafoods, the oyster company that acquired 50% interest in Penn Cove in a joint venture in 1996.
In 2018, Coast Seafood lost a lawsuit filed by Quilcene’s Olympic Forest Coalition over its discharge of effluent from its oyster-growing facility into Quilcene Bay.
Still concerned with the company’s “environmental casualness,” Ricker said the Linger Longer Committee is gathering signatures for a petition protesting the company’s habits.
In Penn Cove’s absence, residents are left wondering if Coast Seafood will continue to expand.
“Having less noise, lights, trucks, boats, and loud machinery will certainly have beneficial environmental impacts for the Bay, the neighbors and for the entire community,” said Kit Kitteredge, a member of the Linger Longer Committee. “We appreciate the employment Pacific/ Coast Seafoods provides, and look forward to them improving their environmental impact on the area so it meets state, county and local standards of sustainable, ‘good neighbor’ behavior.”
