If a proposed Chinese tariff hurts the state’s geoduck industry, a group of harvesters could get refunds from the state.
In May Washington’s Department of Natural Resources held one of the state’s four annual harvesting rights auctions on state-owned aquatic lands.
Eight companies won the temporary harvest rights in the auction.
In June, China announced it would place a 25 percent tariff on a list of American seafood products, including geoducks.
In reaction to the proposed tariff, the state is offering partial refunds to companies who won the rights in the May auction.
It’s the first time a tariff has prompted the state to offer financial relief in an auction, said a Department of Natural Resources (DNR) spokesperson.
Michael Rechner with the Department of Natural Resources said the state decided to offer the refunds because the tariffs are out of anyone’s control and could cause an artificial change in the market, driven by politics.
A spokesperson for Taylor Shellfish, the state’s largest producer of farmed shellfish, said the company is concerned about the impact the proposed tariffs may have on geoduck sales in China.
