Tough call for Drakes Bay Oyster Company

Drakes Estero

Yesterday the U.S. Department of the Interior informed the Drakes Bay Oyster Company that it would direct the National Park Service (NPS) to not extend its lease to harvest shellfish in Drakes Estero, part of Point Reyes National Seashore. The Park Service wants to turn Drakes Estero, which is indeed very beautiful and biodiverse, into a marine wilderness. While I'm in favor of a federally-protected marine wilderness, I'm disappointed a compromise could not be reached.

The company has been operating for nearly 80 years and employs 30 people with seven families living on the property. While the Pacific oysters they raise are non-native, they are, like all oysters, filter feeders who remove pollutants and improve water quality. Ironically, Ken Salazar, Secretary of the Interior, wants the NPS to give dairy farms at Point Reyes multi-year lease extensions. While these farms are also historic, their environmental impact is certainly greater than the oyster farm's. Unfortunately, the oyster farm environmental impact statement utilized NPS reports which, according to the National Academy of Sciences, were flawed and biased. The Park Service does many great things for which I am very grateful, but it appears in this instance they may have acted in a heavy-handed manner.

Maybe I'm naive, but it seems like one compromise might have been a restriction of only native oysters and non-motorized boats in Drakes Estero. This very well might be unacceptable to Drakes Bay Oyster Company, but at least it would give them an option instead of being forced to move out in 90 days.

Ostrea lurida, how we miss thee!

Native West Coast oysters known as Olympia oysters (Ostrea lurida) could once be found in great abundance from Alaska to Mexico and were a key food source for Native Americans and early settlers. While they may still appear today, the Olympia oyster is "functionally extinct" according to a recent San Francisco Chronicle article. The oysters we occasionally enjoy these days are actually farm-raised Japanese Pacific oysters. Personally, I love oysters and can only imagine, with envy, a day when they were a local staple found throughout SF Bay. However, personal taste and diet are trivial compared to the profound impact the demise of the native Olympia oyster has on the ecosystems of SF Bay and other areas. Olympia Oyster beds provide critical habitat for small fish, crabs, anemones, and other marine life. In addition, as a bivalve they are filter feeders who each clean gallons per day of pollutants. It's difficult to envision, but when Olympia oyster beds were found throughout SF Bay, residents regularly ate oysters and the Bay itself would have been significantly cleaner, more biodiverse, and literally teeming with marine life.

Sidebar: The Olympia oyster's taxonomy can be confusing. Ostrea lurida and Ostreola conchaphila are often considered to be synonymous. However, a 2009 study published in the Journal of Shellfish Research provides molecular evidence that they are indeed distinct species.