PCSGA Tidings

This is the 24^th year where the com­mu­nity sur­round­ing cen­tral Whid­bey Island cel­e­brates the onset of spring with annual Penn Cove Mus­sel Fes­ti­val. This year’s fes­ti­val will be held March 6^th and 7^th in Coupeville, Wash­ing­ton. It will once again be head­quar­tered at the Coupeville Recre­ation Hall down­town near the stores and restau­rants along Front Street. Tick­ets for all fes­ti­val activ­i­ties must be pur­chased here.

The Mus­sel, Beer and Wine Gar­den will only be going on Sat­ur­day, March 6^th. Mus­sels and bev­er­ages will be served start­ing at 11:30 am and go until 5:00 pm. Beer and Wine will con­tinue to be sold until 9:00 pm fol­low­ing the last set of music.

The ben­e­fi­ciary of the last two year’s Mus­sel, Beer and Wine Gar­den pro­ceeds and for this year as well will be the Boys & Girls Club of Coupeville.

The music on slate for this year’s fes­ti­val include a repeat per­for­mance by Mr. Mar­cus Whit­ing per­form­ing jazz piano and vocals from 12:00 noon until 2:30. He will be fol­lowed by another favorite of regional fes­ti­vals, the Blue­grass Celtic Band from Van­cou­ver, B.C., Tiller’s Folly, from 2:30 until 5:00. Fol­low­ing them is a real treat, we have a local pop­u­lar rock band, The Steve Trem­b­ley Band, and will play for us from about 5:30 to 9:00 pm.

Be pre­pared to have a great time!

Ques­tions: 360.678.5434 or www​.thep​en​ncov​emus​selfes​ti​val​.com

Ups and downs: Habi­tat restored even as land goes to development

JOHN DODGE; Staff writer, The Olympian| • Pub­lished Feb­ru­ary 03, 2010

OLYMPIA — The health of Puget Sound is a mixed bag of improve­ment and con­tin­ued decline, accord­ing to a State of the Sound report issued Tues­day by the Puget Sound Partnership.

The part­ner­ship, cre­ated by the state Leg­is­la­ture in 2007 to help cure what ails Puget Sound by 2020, looked at 20 indi­ca­tors to eval­u­ate Con­tinue Reading »

A new breed of oys­ter may encour­age aquaculture

Jan 28^th 2010 | LOS ANGELES | From The Econ­o­mist print edition

Getty ImagesThe breed­ing edge

MUCH of the bounty of the ocean is, these days, far less plen­ti­ful than it used to be. Scarcity has made oys­ters expen­sive, turn­ing this unat­trac­tive mol­lusc into a del­i­cacy for the rich. That could change if researchers find a way to breed a faster grow­ing and larger oyster.

As many gar­den­ers and farm­ers know, cross­breed­ing two wimpy spec­i­mens some­times pro­duces strong offspring—an effect known as hybrid vigour. Hybrid vigour is com­mon in plants and is found in some animals—though, some spec­u­late, it may be lack­ing in Euro­pean royalty.

Sev­eral years ago Den­nis Hedge­cock Con­tinue Reading »

Posted By cduna­gan On Feb­ru­ary 1, 2010 @ 10:18 am Puget Sound Blogs In Busi­ness and indus­try, Fish­ing inter­ests, Humor, Recre­ation, Shellfish

I love the reac­tion of new­com­ers to the North­west when they see a giant geo­duck clam ^[1] for the first time.

Some peo­ple laugh; oth­ers stare in dis­be­lief at the unique crea­ture that reminds some peo­ple of the male anatomy.

After you’ve lived in Wash­ing­ton state, you learn that this mas­sive mol­lusk is not only funny, it is big money on the inter­na­tional mar­ket. Geo­ducks are believed Con­tinue Reading »