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STATE OF WASHINGTON DEPARTMENT OF FISHERIES - EXHIBIT C 



Willapa Bay, South Puget Sound and Hood Canal, while areas 



receiving pollutants, namely Grays Harbor, the Straits of 



Juan de Fuca, North Puget Sound, Everett, Seattle, and 



Tacoma have little or no oyster setting tell me that some 



areas have excessive pollution at present? (5). Does the 



fact that oysters successfully reproduced in Grays Harbor 



prior to 1959 but have not since then, tell me something 



about too much pollution there? Does the fact that the 



only commercially valuable natural attachment of Pacific 



oysters recorded in Bellingham and Samish Bays took place 



when the major source of pollution in the area was shut 



down tell me we have too much pollution there? (6). Frankly 



as a taxpayer these facts cause me to believe we may already 



have excessive pollution in some areas. 



I have considered possible pollution effects 



on the oyster because it is perhaps of the greatest interest 



to the waterfront owner for five reasons: First, since an 



oyster is a fish that swims like a rock, once it settles 



on or is placed on the beach, it can be considered the 



private property of the beach owner and the benefits accruing 



from this private ownership can be likened to those from 



an apple tree growing in my back yard; Second, of all the 



valuable animals one might find on the beach oysters and 



their close cousins the clams (not protozoa, plankton or 



