They're Back!
Native Oysters Return to the Bay
The San Francisco Bay was once brimming with oysters. Enough in fact to support the largest oyster industry on the West Coast. Yet, by the early 1900's, California's population and industrial growth led to a degradation of water quality in the Bay and by 1939, the last of the native oysters in San Francisco Bay were commercially harvested. Today, The Watershed Project is excited to help lead an effort to monitor and restore native oysters to the San Francisco Bay. Our "Oysters on the Half Shell" Program involves three interconnected approaches: restoration, monitoring, and education.
Shuckers and Slurpers Take Note
Local Oyster Farm Fights Closure
It's like a little bite of the ocean washing down your throat. Add some Champagne or a nice Sauvignon Blanc and it's a vacation to someplace tropical. Given Bay Area dwellers' appetite for oysters and support of sustainable farming, who wouldn't welcome an oyster farm that is only about an hour from downtown San Francisco? To answer that question, just ask the folks who live in West Marin about the controversy that has pitted the National Park Service against the sustainable farming community. At issue is Drake's Bay Family Farms in Drakes Estero, a protected part of the Point Reyes National Seashore.
What's in Your Watershed?
The Feisty Tidewater Goby
Get out your calendars. May marks the beginning of the tidewater goby breeding season! As you read this article, the mating drama of this small fish is unfolding in the brackish water of lagoons, estuaries, and marshes near you.
Pearly White Beaches
A Brief History of Oysters in the San Francisco Bay
Jack London was an oyster pirate. Before the Bay Area's very own literary hero published any written works, he robbed the San Francisco Bay of one of its most valuable shellfish. London wrote about his oyster high jinks after joining the California Fish Patrol. In one of his stories, London acknowledges that oyster thieves could cash in on "thousands of dollars every year" from stealing oysters straight out of their beds. His involvement in the oyster trade of the late 19th century is indicative of the role that oysters once played in both the San Francisco Bay Area's ecosystem and trade.
