SEATTLE — Oyster growers in Washington have once again asked the state Department of Ecology to issue a pesticide application permit so they can spray oyster beds.
The request comes months after the department rescinded the permit after residents across Washington raised environmental concerns about the practice.
The pesticides were supposed to control burrowing shrimp in the oyster beds. The shrimp burrow into the shellfish beds, making the ground too soft for oysters, causing them to suffocate.
Seattlepi.com reported that the Willapa Bay and Grays Harbor growers say their farms will become unusable if they are not allowed to kill burrowing shrimp.
An Ecology spokesman says the permit process will be transparent and open and concurrent with an Environmental Protection Agency study into the issue.
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