Changing Nature-Society Conditions and the Oyster Industry, Willapa Bay, Washington

Key stresses in some rural areas of the more-developed world reflect the tensions between local resource conditions, broader political control, conflicting perceptions of threats, and related management options. For Willapa Bay and its surroundings, historical changes, relevant science, state regulatory actions, and viewpoints expressed in the media illuminate circumstances in a distinctive rural area. An important concern is on management of invasive aquatic species and the status of the oyster industry. Origins of species, pressures, changes, and impacts vary. Both local and nonlocal policy and management decisions affect conditions in this social-ecological system. Control of ghost shrimp and cordgrass to maintain oyster farming has depended on the use of pesticides, but perceptions of the safety and need for pesticide use vary, especially between shellfish producers and urban dwellers.