03.09.05

Mason County Business Wins NOAA "Excellence in Business Leadership Award"

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WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) announced today that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has awarded Taylor Shellfish Farms of Shelton its "Excellence in Business Leadership Award." Cantwell nominated Taylor for the award, and recently visited the company's Mason County headquarters to view their expansion efforts.

Cantwell wrote in her nomination letter, "The Taylor family and its employees have consistently gone above and beyond the call of duty in improving and protecting the coastal environment through involvement in numerous boards and committees, through the development of an environmental code of practice and through their generous involvement with the community."

NOAA officials presented the award to Taylor Shellfish Farms President Bill Taylor and his brother Paul in a ceremony today at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington DC. The award recognizes Taylor for innovation, resourcefulness, leadership, commitment and effectiveness in promoting coastal stewardship and advancing the goals of the Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA).

"This award is a great honor," Bill Taylor said. "We are grateful for Senator Cantwell's nomination and especially of the senator's recognition of the importance of clean water and a healthy coastal ecosystem to the shellfish growing industry, the coastal communities and the coastal economy."

Taylor Shellfish Farms is a fourth generation family-owned company with 370 employees farming shellfish on 9000 acres of owned and leased tideland in the Puget Sound and Willapa Bay, Washington. The company produces Manila clams, Mediterranean mussels, geoduck, and a variety of live, shucked and frozen oysters for national and international markets.

Taylor Shellfish Farms also sells shellfish "seed" to other growers and tideland owners. "The more people growing shellfish, the more people we have promoting water quality," Taylor said.

For more information on the NOAA "Excellence Awards" go to http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/programs/ocrm/jonesnoaa/supp_2005winners.html.

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