This opens the way for the private firms who lobbied for this change to start spraying herbicide in Puget Sound, killing the eelgrass and raising their profits.
The state Department of Fish and Wildlife reviewed this proposed change and stated the following:
“WDFW strongly opposes the listing of Z. japonica [an eelgrass] as a noxious weed in Puget Sound. Chinook and chum salmon, steelhead trout, and three species of rockfish are listed under the Endangered Species Act in Puget Sound. All but steelhead juvenile life history stages of these species are widely known to use eelgrass as cover from predation, as migration corridors, and to seek food resources.”
How can a plant go from a priority habitat species to a noxious weed when nothing has changed except increased political pressure of some private firms? It makes no sense for the appointees of the Noxious Weed Board to override the opinion of scientists in the WDFW. We are spending millions of dollars to save Puget Sound and the salmon; spaying herbicide in the Sound and on the salmon’s critical habitat is just dumb.
Please let your elected officials know what you think of this idea. They can put a stop to it but it is up to us to make our opinion known.
