Gear, not geoducks, impacts ecosystem if farming increases

A geoduck farm in Puget Sound’s Case Inlet.

The equipment used to farm geoducks, including PVC pipes and nets, might have a greater impact on the Puget Sound food web than the addition of the clams themselves.

That’s one of the findings of the first major scientific study to examine the broad, long-term ecosystem effects of geoduck aquaculture in Puget Sound, published last week in the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea’s Journal of Marine Science.

The study, overseen by UW’s Washington Sea Grant and co-authored by Environmental Studies’ Sean McDonald, also found that under one scenario, geoduck farming in the main basin of Puget Sound could more than double before the ecosystem would feel significant impacts.