Save our Tomales Bay – part 15 Tomales Bay Oyster Company stuck in the mud, along with all their trash

Click the words “Save our Tomales Bay…” above to see this post in its entirety.

Nearly two months ago I wrote about a chance meeting with the owner of Tomales Bay Oyster Company on the beach near his operation on the shore of Tomales Bay. This was not the first time I had spoken with Tod about the mess his company makes in Tomales Bay.

You can read that post here.

I thought he had finally come to see the error in his methods and was going to instruct his employees to quit throwing trash into Tomales Bay, make simple changes to some of his processes and reduce the amount of plastic his business knowingly dumped into the bay.

How wrong I was.

Since January I have walked a quarter mile section of coastline adjacent to his business each week and picked up anything that did not belong. Plastic bags, hundreds of plastic zip-ties, ropes, glass, rubber gloves etc. The vast majority from the oyster company, but not all of it.

For months, I had been gathering a large bag of this trash each week and putting the date on it. A few times I packed out numerous large grow out bags as well, full of dead oysters.

Then, after speaking with Tod, three weeks in a row I found barely more than a handful. Woo hoo I thought. They are going to stop polluting so much, maybe even pick up their own trash.

Alas, my excitement was short-lived. The trash was back, same volume as before.

WTF I thought to myself. Their boss and I talked. The workers see me week after week, knowing I am telling the world of their selfish littering, and still they dump their mess in Tomales Bay.

Well, enough is enough. In the coming week, I’ll show you what I have gathered from the shore where they farm oysters at Tomales Bay Oyster Company. You decide if this is the type of operation that should be expanded up and down the coast of California. The California Department of Fish & WIldlife (DFW) is pushing the “California Shellfish Initiative”. If this is what they are selling, I want no part of it. And neither should anyone else. (Except perhaps a company more interested in short-term profits over a clean environment for those that come after us)

For now, you’ll have to enjoy what appears to me to be a failed experiment left to rot in Tomales Bay.

The images that follow show what I have seen laying in the mud for years – out of sight to all but a fool such as myself, barely 500 meters from the tables filled to capacity each weekend with oyster eaters, ignorant what is being done to the planet to put shellfish on their table and money in the pockets of a few hard-working, yet uncaring, selfish shellfish individuals.

Feast your eyes on the carnage wrought by Tomales Bay Oyster Company, then call them and ask that they stop trashing Tomales Bay. (415) 663-1243.

All of the following images were made on 19 April, 2014 between 8:24 am and 9:12 am.

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abandoned PVC pipes  - Tomales Bay Oyster Company

abandoned PVC pipes – Tomales Bay Oyster Company

abandoned PVC pipes  - Tomales Bay Oyster Company

abandoned PVC pipes – Tomales Bay Oyster Company

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abandoned rope - Tomales Bay Oyster Company

abandoned rope – Tomales Bay Oyster Company

abandoned oyster rack mount covered with marine growth - Tomales Bay Oyster Company

abandoned oyster rack mount covered with marine growth – Tomales Bay Oyster Company

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abandoned oyster bags - Tomales Bay Oyster Company

abandoned oyster bags – Tomales Bay Oyster Company

abandoned oyster racks - Tomales Bay Oyster Company

abandoned oyster racks – Tomales Bay Oyster Company

Click any image to see a huge version

abandoned oyster racks - Tomales Bay Oyster Company

abandoned oyster racks – Tomales Bay Oyster Company

abandoned PVC pipes  - Tomales Bay Oyster Company

abandoned PVC pipes – Tomales Bay Oyster Company

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abandoned PVC pipes and in use grow out bags - Tomales Bay Oyster Company Looks like a hurricane hit a hardware store. If a hardware store looked like this, it would either get cleaned up, or go out of business. Hardware stores are easy to build. There is only one Tomales Bay. So.....clean it up, or go out of business!

abandoned PVC pipes and in use grow out bags – Tomales Bay Oyster Company
Looks like a hurricane hit a hardware store. If a hardware store looked like this, it would either get cleaned up, or go out of business.
Hardware stores are easy to build. There is only one Tomales Bay.
So…..clean it up, or go out of business!

abandoned PVC pipes and in use grow out bags - Tomales Bay Oyster Company

abandoned PVC pipes and in use grow out bags – Tomales Bay Oyster Company

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abandoned PVC pipes - Tomales Bay Oyster Company

abandoned PVC pipes – Tomales Bay Oyster Company

abandoned zip-ties - Tomales Bay Oyster Company

abandoned zip-ties – Tomales Bay Oyster Company

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abandoned oyster rack gear - Tomales Bay Oyster Company

abandoned oyster rack gear – Tomales Bay Oyster Company

abandoned oyster rack mount covered with marine growth - Tomales Bay Oyster Company

abandoned oyster rack mount covered with marine growth – Tomales Bay Oyster Company

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abandoned oyster rack mount covered with marine growth - Tomales Bay Oyster Company

abandoned oyster rack mount covered with marine growth – Tomales Bay Oyster Company

abandoned grow out bags, rope and PVC pipes - Tomales Bay Oyster Company

abandoned grow out bags, rope and PVC pipes – Tomales Bay Oyster Company

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abandoned grow out bags covered with marine growth - Tomales Bay Oyster Company

abandoned grow out bags covered with marine growth – Tomales Bay Oyster Company

abandoned grow out bags covered with marine growth - Tomales Bay Oyster Company

abandoned grow out bags covered with marine growth – Tomales Bay Oyster Company

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abandoned grow out bags covered with marine growth - Tomales Bay Oyster Company

abandoned grow out bags covered with marine growth – Tomales Bay Oyster Company

abandoned plastic trays - Tomales Bay Oyster Company

abandoned plastic trays – Tomales Bay Oyster Company

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abandoned plastic trays - Tomales Bay Oyster Company

abandoned plastic trays – Tomales Bay Oyster Company

abandoned plastic trays - Tomales Bay Oyster Company

abandoned plastic trays – Tomales Bay Oyster Company

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abandoned plastic trays - Tomales Bay Oyster Company

abandoned plastic trays – Tomales Bay Oyster Company

abandoned plastic trays - Tomales Bay Oyster Company

abandoned plastic trays – Tomales Bay Oyster Company

Click any image to see a huge version

abandoned plastic trays - Tomales Bay Oyster Company

abandoned plastic trays – Tomales Bay Oyster Company

abandoned oyster rack - Tomales Bay Oyster Company

abandoned oyster rack – Tomales Bay Oyster Company

Click any image to see a huge version

abandoned grow out bags covered with marine growth - Tomales Bay Oyster Company

abandoned grow out bags covered with marine growth – Tomales Bay Oyster Company

abandoned grow out bags covered with marine growth - Tomales Bay Oyster Company

abandoned grow out bags covered with marine growth – Tomales Bay Oyster Company

Click any image to see a huge version

abandoned grow out bags covered with marine growth - Tomales Bay Oyster Company

abandoned grow out bags covered with marine growth – Tomales Bay Oyster Company

abandoned grow out bags covered with marine growth - Tomales Bay Oyster Company

abandoned grow out bags covered with marine growth – Tomales Bay Oyster Company

Click any image to see a huge version

abandoned grow out bags covered with marine growth - Tomales Bay Oyster Company

abandoned grow out bags covered with marine growth – Tomales Bay Oyster Company

abandoned grow out bags covered with marine growth - Tomales Bay Oyster Company

abandoned grow out bags covered with marine growth – Tomales Bay Oyster Company

Click any image to see a huge version

abandoned grow out bags covered with marine growth - Tomales Bay Oyster Company

abandoned grow out bags covered with marine growth – Tomales Bay Oyster Company

retail oyster bag stuck in the mud - Tomales Bay Oyster Company

retail oyster bag stuck in the mud – Tomales Bay Oyster Company

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plastic rope by the miles lost each year in the mud - Tomales Bay Oyster Company

plastic rope by the miles lost each year in the mud – Tomales Bay Oyster Company

retail oyster bag stuck in the mud - Tomales Bay Oyster Company

retail oyster bag stuck in the mud – Tomales Bay Oyster Company

Click any image to see a huge version

retail oyster bag stuck in the mud - Tomales Bay Oyster Company

retail oyster bag stuck in the mud – Tomales Bay Oyster Company

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Next related post may be found here.

Previous related post may be found here.

See the first post in this series “Save our Tomales Bay” here.

Save our Tomales Bay – part 12 (Millerton style)

Click on the words above “Save our Tomales Bay…” to see this post as it was meant to be seen.

This past weekend we experienced King Tides, exceptionally high (and low) tides that happen this time of year.

To see some even higher tides, go here.

The water was so high I was able to launch my boat from the bridge at Chicken Ranch.

My goal was to head south into some formerly diked off areas to the east that only flood deep enough to get into during high tides. With the added benefit of the high water floating all the human-made plastic for easy finding and retrieval.

Down near Bivalve I recovered a second swim area buoy that had gotten loose and drifted far from its’ usual spot. I found the first one last year, a few hundred meters south of this one.

Paddling back I ran into Dan from Sebastopol, we’d met a few weeks prior a bit north of here. We visited briefly as we recounted how we each enjoyed the high tides. I had to split off to pick up some trash I had cached. Dan was with a large group of paddlers from Petaluma. My plan was to pick up my cache, then stop by Millerton (where they had put in) and visit on my way back as they pulled their boats to the car. As we parted, Dan shouted that he found another duck decoy just then. He found one as well on our first meeting. I too have a pair of found plastic ducks, one pintail and one mallard.

Yet, there was too much trash to pick up and I missed him by moments.

I still stopped at Millerton, a place I had not visited on the water in all my travels in Tomales Bay.

As I approached the shore I began counting tires, one, two three. Large ones. Tractor tires. All within 200 feet of the where the trail hits the water. I was nonplused. All these years I had been out to remote areas of Point Reyes Seashore gathering trash likely never to be seen except by divers or other intrepid adventurers, and here these tires lay in the mud. On the shore for what appears to be decades by the looks of them, not 200 feet from the cars bringing all the dog owners to this busy beach.

I may have missed Dan, I was not going to miss the opportunity to clear the Bay of these huge tires.

Tires all over the shore, and this in the parking lot, two days running. Is this status quo for Millerton?

Tires all over the shore, and this in the parking lot, two days running.
Is this status quo for Millerton?

I had to dig them out of the mud, stand them up, scoop 20-30 pounds of mud out of them and roll them to the hill that leads to the parking lot. As I rolled the first one along the bumpy shore, A man out with his family picnicking got up and walked over to me,

“Do you need some help?” he asked.

“That would be great” was my reply.

“But you are going to get very muddy.” I offered.

“No problem.” was Armando’s response.

Together we rolled it, wobbly, up the hill. He took it the rest of the way to the parking lot. I was off to get another.

“If you get more, my sons and I can help.”

Armando from Berkeley told me he loves to come to this beach with his family. When he saw me struggling with the huge tire, he became inspired.

He and I rolled a second tire, as big as the first up to the lot. I was not sure I was up to a third so I suggested he enjoy the new year day with his family and thanked him for his help.

As I neared my boat, I was drawn to a third tire, laying in the shallow water, filled with mud. This one required a lever and fulcrum to pull it out of the mud. Fiddling with sticks and logs to make my mechanical advantage, Kevin “KC” form Inverness Park saw me and he too asked if he could help. He was dressed even nicer than Armando was. I explained the mud and he would not be deterred. He stripped off his jacket and came right over to help. Together we got another large tire up the hill and out of the Bay.

His wife snapped these photos of us.

KC and I roll a tractor tire out of Tomales Bay to the parking lot for removal.

KC and I roll a tractor tire out of Tomales Bay to the parking lot for removal.


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Afterwards he then offered me a cold beer (which I gladly accepted) and he opened it for me, as my hands were still coated with thick black mud, bleeding profusely from where the barnacles had sliced them.

Thank you KC.

I plucked a fourth tire, this one a tiny 18-wheeler that was on dry ground and rolled it up the hill solo.

This makes fifteen tires pulled from the bay so far.

There are still at least 2-3 more here, as well as a large rear axle from some ancient vehicle of some sort laying in the tiny creek nearby.

I placed the swim buoy in with them. Later I called the state dispatcher for parks and the folks from Samuel Taylor had them taken care of by that evening.

This six cylinder GM engine in the water earlier sure looked out of place. Clearly left by some lazy SOB that had backed his truck up to the cliff next to route 1 and pushed it over, saving a trip over the hill to the recycler. His problem was now everyone’s problem. This is the third block I have found in Tomales Bay. The other two are likely remnants of boat wrecks, both on the west shore.

Just what every body of water needs - NOT.

Just what every body of water needs – NOT.


Oyster grow-out bag filled with bottles and cans. My first toaster and fourth TV.

Oyster grow-out bag filled with bottles and cans. My first toaster and fourth TV.


Four tires, a buoy and two oyster grow-out bags.

Four tires, a buoy and two oyster grow-out bags.

A few days later I paid a visit to Hog Island Oysters, having been invited to come talk about my clean-up efforts and the goals of Hog Island in terms of reducing the amount of plastic the oyster farms inject into the environment.

John Finger explained that in the past, a yearly cleanup had taken place to pick up oyster gear from around the bay.

Hog Island is committed to running a clean operation, reducing plastic loss and recovering as much as possible that is lost.

After seeing what I was digging out of the wrack on a regular basis, he decided that once a year was not enough. So he plans to work with the other growers to make a concerted effort four times per year. If I can, I’ll go out before the planned cleanup to see what is there to get, as well as to visit after the cleanup to see if the participants are actually recovering their gear.

I am going to reduce the number of “Save our Tomales Bay” reports for a while. A wait and see approach, if you will.

Let us hope that all the Tomales Bay Oyster growers step up and help manage the mess that their operations are creating, hopefully figuring out how to prevent the mess in the first place.

I’ll still be out there picking up stuff and photographing it.

In the meantime, enjoy this green heron I drifted by on christmas day.

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Now this is what I expect to see in a Bay as gorgeous as Tomales!

Coming soon, we’ll pay a visit to Drakes Estero to see what a “sustainable oyster operation” looks like under the surface.

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Next related post may be found here.

Previous related post may be found here.

See the first post in this series “Save our Tomales Bay” here.

Save our Tomales Bay – part 11

Click on the words above “Save our Tomales Bay…” to see this post as it was meant to be seen.

It appears I was premature in doling out kudos to the folks at Tomales Bay Oyster Company (TBOC) for picking up after themselves.

The garbage continues to show up on the stretch of shore just south of their retail operation.

I continue to be flummoxed at how a business dependent on nature for profits can be so cavalier in the care of that same environment from whence the bivalve bucks become.

Good news to report though. The Department of Fish & Wildlife has furnished me with maps showing who has a state water bottom lease for aquaculture in Tomales Bay. Equally interesting is who does not have a lease (or sub-lease) to grow shellfish in the saltwater of Tomales Bay

With these maps I hope to be better able to figure out the source of the garbage in Tomales Bay.

I’ve been justly heaping the shame on Tomales Bay Oyster Company for producing the mess I find in the southern end of Tomales Bay. I say justly because the state of the shore I walk reflects the state of the production area and the mudflats directly in front of the operation in The Bay.

In a word, deplorable, describes how it looks.

Armed with these new maps, I see that there are three other Oyster farmers with leases in the southern bay region, Hog Island Oyster Company, Point Reyes Oyster Company and Marin Oyster Company.

In light of this, I’ll be sure to share the responsibility of the continuous mess I find equitably.

The folks at Hog Island contacted me recently. They care deeply about the bay and want to work with me to see how to have regular, thorough clean-ups of the feral plastic their operations introduce into the global ecosystem. They continue to reach out to fellow oysterers for help in recovering the rubbish that regularly is loosed on the water and land by wind and wave. Let’s hope with increased public scrutiny, all growers participate in protecting the Bay from human activity from now on.

More on that later.

Below are images from efforts on 14 and 15 December.


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RJames.map.2013.11.17 Litter
Five weeks ago I recovered 24 bags along with the usual plastic bits, bottles and foam.


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RJames.map.2013.12.15 Litter
Last week in the same area I collected 29 bags.
Does anyone see a trend here? I’m told these bags cost 2 bucks a piece. Must be good money in oysters to be throwing away so much cash.


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One of a few "work-sites" on The Bay where materials and rubbish are regularly left to the winds and waves.

One of a few “work-sites” on The Bay where materials and rubbish are regularly left to the winds and waves.


A favorite libation of the oyster worker. I find them all over Tomales Bay.

A favorite libation of the oyster worker. I find them all over Tomales Bay.


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Suppliers to the oyster trade of West Marin.  Admiralty Seafood, Drakes Bay Oyster Company, Montana Reach dba Cold Creek Oysters, Northwest Shellfish Company, Schreiber Shellfish Company, Tom Farmer Oyster Company, Tomales Bay Oyster Company -- Are these companies aware that their name is attached to oyster farm debris littering Tomales Bay? -- You betcha!

Suppliers to the oyster trade of West Marin. Admiralty Seafood, Drakes Bay Oyster Company, Montana Reach dba Cold Creek Oysters, Northwest Shellfish Company, Schreiber Shellfish Company, Tom Farmer Oyster Company, Tomales Bay Oyster Company

Are these companies aware that their name is attached to oyster farm debris littering Tomales Bay?

You betcha!


More tags from those Washington oysters - Nisqually Tribe Shellfish Farm, Tom Farmer Oyster Company, Taylor Shellfish Farms, Gold Coast Oyster LLC, Northwest Shellfish Company, Schreiber Shellfish Inc.

More tags from those Washington oysters – Nisqually Tribe Shellfish Farm, Tom Farmer Oyster Company, Taylor Shellfish Farms, Gold Coast Oyster LLC, Northwest Shellfish Company, Schreiber Shellfish Inc.


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Boat loaded down with several hours work cleaning up after local oyster farmers.


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Feral plastic unloaded and turned into a monument to oyster profits over a clean environment.


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Now that the hard work of finding, pulling out of the mud and returning to the source has been done for them, I hope they at least had the decency to come out and get their trash. The low tide prevented me from getting in closer to shore.


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Dozens of bags buried in the mud, abandoned for so long they have become substrate for the ecosystem. Polyethylene is not a sustainable substrate.

Dozens of bags buried in the mud, abandoned for so long they have become substrate for the ecosystem.
Polyethylene is not a sustainable substrate.


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oyster bags, plastic ropes - tools of the oyster trade I find all over the beaches of West Marin. The same material found in the guts of dead whales, dead turtles and dead birds.

oyster bags, plastic ropes – tools of the oyster trade I find all over the beaches of West Marin.
The same material found in the guts of dead whales, dead turtles and dead birds.


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This foam provides buoyancy for the work platforms used by oyster farmers. - I find this stuff all over the place. Some pieces too large to fit in my car, so they are strapped on top. - I've been picking this up from the shores of Drakes Estero for years. - Thankfully that operation will soon close and the source of this toxic blight in those waters will go away. - Ironic that I regularly find dust pans on the beach. Brooms and brushes too.

This foam provides buoyancy for the work platforms used by oyster farmers.

I find this stuff all over the place. Some pieces too large to fit in my car, so they are strapped on top.

I’ve been picking this up from the shores of Drakes Estero for years.

Thankfully that operation will soon close and the source of this toxic blight in those waters will go away.

Ironic that I regularly find dust pans on the beach. Brooms and brushes too.


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Grow-out bag covered with California horn snails CORRECTION: Japanese Mud Snails, brought in with non-native oysters long ago. Yet more damage done to California environmnet by shellfish growers. They eat detritus and benthic diatoms. Their preferred diet is benthic diatoms, not the detritus you see here.


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Grow-out bag covered with California horn snails CORRECTION: Japanese Mud Snails, brought in with non-native oysters long ago. Yet more damage done to California environmnet by shellfish growers. They eat detritus and benthic diatoms. Their preferred diet is benthic diatoms, not the detritus you see here.


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No oysters in this long abandoned grow-out bag. Just sand and mud.


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No oysters in this long abandoned grow-out bag. Just sand and mud.


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No oysters in this long abandoned grow-out bag. Just sand and mud.


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No oysters in this long abandoned grow-out bag. Just sand and mud.


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No oysters in this long abandoned grow-out bag. Just sand and mud.


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No oysters in this long abandoned grow-out bag. Just sand and mud.

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Next related post may be found here.

Previous related post may be found here.

See the first post in this series “Save our Tomales Bay” here.

Save our Tomales Bay – part 8

Click on the words above “Save our Tomales Bay…” to see this post as it was meant to be seen.

This past weekend the weather was superb. Nearly zero wind, flat water and perfect temperatures made for a sublime day on the bay.

I’ve several posts from days gone by to publish, but time is sparse and they need more than I have just now, so this will have to do for now.

It is raining hard as I write this, the lights have flickered twice which means the salmon and steelhead are about to make their return journey to natal streams whence they emerged into being 3-4 years ago. As I paddle across the shallow Tomales Bay, with each dip of the blade into water, I look down and think of the thousands of miles these fish have traveled since they left as 100 mm smolts 1100 days ago.

Today with water so flat and tide so high, I venture to the east shore of the bay to have a look and see how the shore is being treated by local commerce. Oyster farmers in particular.

I’ve been pretty forthcoming about what I see as their shortcomings in terms of policing up the tools of the trade they have chosen. It is with pleasure I report that they seem to have gotten the message (unlike other oyster farmers in the area, see here for more on that) and are picking up after themselves.

In the past I’ve found dozens, hundreds of grow out bags littering the shore and inter-tidal region. Along with dozens of the tags from the bags they buy from Washington State and have shipped down to resell.

Hey California, call your oyster farmer. The numbers are right there on the tags. As always, click on the image to see a larger version.

Hey California, call your oyster farmer. The numbers are right there on the tags.
As always, click on the image to see a larger version.

That trip I only found a few bags and 8 tags. And I had to look hard for them too. Seems someone (TBOC?) is out picking up their trash. Thank you to whoever is getting it. If you do this regularly, I won’t be finding stuff washed way up high in the bushes and buried by plants for years. Or worse, it won’t be washing out to sea where it harms animals, and eventually is ingested by animals, including humans that eat said animals.

So here I am on this gorgeous day, thinking I am not going to find much mariculture debris littering the shore. I take advantage of the high tide and ride the incoming tide into an area I later learn is known by some as Tomasini Lagoon. It is a triangular shaped region just below route 1, separated from Tomales Bay by a dike.

Once inside I begin to paddle close to shore in a counter-clockwise fashion, letting the tide push me along. Suddenly the silence is broken by a shriek I know. I look overhead and a peregrine is soaring above me, letting me know whose lagoon this is. As I make my way along one side of this watery triangle, the first grow-out bag comes into view and I must beach the boat and go get it. This is repeated over and over again as I pass one vertice and begin to traverse the second side.

Soon I am greeted by a couple in a canoe. I’ve not seen them before and their first words to me as they look at my garbage covered kayak are “Thank you for doing this. We were out last friday doing the same thing up north of here.” I learn they are Bridger and Katherine and they have boated the area for years. After a brief visit, they head on their way and I continue on mine. Later, I see them outside the triangle on-shore with something. When I get close I see they’ve discovered and propped up 2 grow out bags I had missed so that I can get them on my way out, which I do.

Here you can see my path inside the lagoon and the locations of the 22 bags I found and two bags found by B&K.


24 oyster grow out bags left abandoned on Tomales Bay. Click image to see a larger version.

24 oyster grow out bags left abandoned on Tomales Bay.
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Here is a device I have never before seen. It looks expensive. Who can tell me what it is? Or whose it is and why they left it here?

Tell me whose it is and I'll tell you where you can go get it. Click image for a larger version

Tell me whose it is and I’ll tell you where you can go get it.
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Tell me whose it is and I'll tell you where you can go get it. Click image for a larger version

Tell me whose it is and I’ll tell you where you can go get it.
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The rest of the images show some of the garbage I picked up on my paddle through nature.

On my way back, I met another fellow, Dan, also out for a paddle on this perfect day. He too thanked me for my efforts and then paid a visit to this blog. You can read about his day on the water here. He teaches kindergarten in Sonoma and loves to get out on the water whenever he can.

The last image below, as well as the header image show the beach where I placed all the oyster gear I found. It is at Tomales Bay Oyster Company. There is little doubt where this trash came from. Have a look at the google earth image above and you can see how close to the retail operation the triangle lagoon is.

It was a busy day there, yet only a couple people came down to ask me what this stuff was and why I was dumping it on the beach. You can be sure that I explained in detail what it was and where I had found it.

Both people asked me if I worked for the oyster place. No, was my reply. Do they pay you? Again, no was my reply. One asked me why the oyster place did not pick up the trash. I don’t know was my reply, raising one hand and rubbing two fingers and my thumb together as I said so.

They took a sip of their beer and returned to the festivities.


Dead loon in the wrack

Dead loon in the wrack


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I found a kayak! OK, not the whole thing, only the label.

I found a kayak! OK, not the whole thing, only the label.


Tags from bags of shellfish, shipped from Washington State to Marin.  All found on 17 November, 2013 along the shore near Tomales Bay Oyster Company. Check out the dates on those tags... Click image for a larger version. Know your farmer, call them up!

Tags from bags of shellfish, shipped from Washington State to Marin.
All found on 17 November, 2013 along the shore near Tomales Bay Oyster Company. Check out the dates on those tags…
Click image for a larger version. Know your farmer, call them up!


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The earth is not so very different from the gallon wine jug with grass growing inside it.
A limited amount of space in which to grow.

When will humans figure out that we have to take good care of this vessel on which we live?

Damn it, shut the gadgets off and get outside with someone you love, look at this place we call home.

Before it is gone.


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Next related post may be found here.

Previous related post may be found here.

See the first post in this series “Save our Tomales Bay” here.

Save our Tomales Bay – part 7

Click on the words above “Save our Tomales Bay…” to see this post as it was meant to be seen.

Historic-Oyster-Trash

I’ve been boating the waters and walking the shore of Tomales Bay the past few months to see what the impact of oyster farming is on this body of water.

You can see my first post on this topic here.

You can see what I collected over 3 years from the soon to be closed oyster farm on Drakes Estero here.

Until recently I have only visited the area around Tomales Bay Oyster Company in the southern reaches of Tomales Bay.

There was so much debris to collect, it took me a while to get to other areas. And, as I said I would, I finally got up to the Walker Creek area to have a look at how the oyster growers in that area clean up after themselves.

More than one local told me that the folks at Hog Island expended great effort to clean up the mess that is inevitable when one tosses thousands of oyster filled bags into the bay for years at a time. The wind and waves wait for no one. Gear is blown all over the place, some, who knows how much, is sucked out to the open sea for the animals to contend with.

So, after loading my boat and gear onto my car, off I went to the north end of Tomales Bay.

I’ve made three visits to this area, this post will show what I found after visit number two.

This first image is from Google Earth. Each yellow pin shows where I found one or more grow out bags or other oyster debris.

Map of Walker Creek mouth area showing oyster farming debris locations. Click for a larger image.

Map of Walker Creek mouth area showing oyster farming debris locations. Click for a larger image.

The next 60+ images show what I found at each yellow pinned location.

Tired of making many, many trips with my tiny boat to haul this garbage from others back to my car. Even more tired of destroying my car by hauling all of this trash belonging to those making a profit from public lands in my car, I had an idea. I was going to pile this trash where anyone driving by on route 1 could see it.

The last few images of this post will show the beginning of the monument to oyster profits for a few over a clean environment for all.

A future post will go into more details on this monument, and how it was received.

As you peruse these images, ask yourself if what I was told by a long time Hog Island worker and a parent of a Hog Island worker is true. That is, we take better care of the environment than do our colleagues to the south of us.

Did you see the monument to oyster profits for a few over a clean environment for all as you drove by? Please send me a note, or picture you made.

As always, click on an image to see a larger version.

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This first pile is what I collected as I drifted down Walker Creek. I hauled it up to the side of route 1 for collection later, where I found the following…

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Someone decided that the right thing to do with this artwork and materials was to toss it over the side of the road. Does anyone recognize that painted fabric?

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Above is what it looks like as I found it. After flipping it over to remove the eel grass camouflage is seen below.

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Above is what it looks like as I found it. After flipping it over to remove the eel grass camouflage is seen below.

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A short video showing a high density of oyster grow out bags abandoned on the shore of Tomales Bay.


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The next few images of heavy machinery are, I was told by a long-time West Marin resident, from oyster farming operations of long-ago.

Leaving a mess seems to run in the DNA of oyster farmers.

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My boat loaded down with as much as I dare take on such a windy day as this one was.

The following images are of the debris where I hauled it to make the monument to oyster profits for a few over a clean environment for all.

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As you can see in this image taken from the side of route 1, even at 200 mm magnification, the monument is too far away to make an impact on even the most unusual of tourists that may make the effort to get out of their car before taking the iconic picture of nature.

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I could move the oyster farming debris closer to the road for ease of viewing, but no, that would make it harder for the oyster farmers to come pick up their trash on their own. Even after doing the heavy lifting and long walking, I figured I needed to make this easy if they were going to clean up after themselves.

Stay tuned for the next exciting installment of “Save our Tomales Bay”, or “How to get the mess makers to clean up after themselves, or better yet, not make a mess in the first place…”

Those of you that made it this far are rewarded with the main reason I visit the wild places of California as often as I can.

This is why we all need to do our utmost to protect the environment that many, many species besides humans call home.

Black Turnstones on the wing. Click for a larger image.

Black Turnstones on the wing. Click for a larger image.

Egrets on the wing. Click for a larger image.

Egrets on the wing. Click for a larger image.

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Next related post may be found here.

Previous related post may be found here.

See the first post in this series “Save our Tomales Bay” here.

Save our Tomales Bay – part 6

Click on the words above “Save our Tomales Bay…” to see this post as it was meant to be seen.

Oyster bags, oyster tags, what a drag!

Not only do the oyster farmers of Tomales Bay leave the tools of their trade all over the environment, they leave the tags from the bags shipped here from Washington State.

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Let’s have a closer look at those tags

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It says, “This tag is required to be attached until container is empty or retagged and thereafter kept on file for 90 days.

90 days from May 21st would be August 21st. Yet, I found these tags littering the shore (along with hundreds of grow out bags) in June, July and August. Does keeping tags on file in the oyster business mean scattering them to the winds to be deposited on the shores of Tomales Bay and Point Reyes Seashore?

There is so much to learn about this local, sustainable, easy on the land business of growing, er shipping from Washington, oysters.

Do you know your oyster farmer? Call them, all the Washington numbers are there on those tags you can see better below.

Does it make sense to ship oysters so far to sell them? Maybe farming what local, non-protected waters can support is the wiser course in the long run. If the local waters can only support X pounds of oysters per year, harvest X pounds.

Either way, picking up after yourself is a given. Why is it accepted that these mariculture operations can leave such a mess in the waters and on the shore? The Leysan Albatross and other pelagic birds that scoop up all the plastic garbage humans dump in the sea, and feed it to their chicks who then die, they have no seat at the table where decisions are made by those in power, those extracting a profit. Who speaks for the animals of the sea?

West Marin oyster farmers want to greatly expand the number of acres in Tomales Bay where they can practice their trade.

From what I have seen so far in my many days on the water and along the shore picking up after them, they don’t deserve to farm the acres they mis-use now. If these farmers sent two people out one day each week, or even every other week to clean up THEIR mess, I’d have nothing to write about. More importantly, the animals of the sea would be less likely to die by ingesting our waste.

This farming can be done responsibly if the farmers are willing to act in a manner many talk about. Are short-term profits going to fog the eyes of these business people such that they are blind to the damage being done?

I hope not.

As always, to see a larger version of the following images, click on it.

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Next related post may be found here.

Previous related post may be found here.

See the first post in this series “Save our Tomales Bay” here.

Save our Tomales Bay – Part 5

Click the words above “Save our Tomales Bay…” to see this post as it was meant to be seen.

The past several weeks I’ve been picking up the trash left behind by local oyster farming operations on Tomales Bay.

In this post from 29 June, I wondered aloud if those responsible for the mess would pick up after themselves, or would I need to find more help to rid the environment of the trash of private enterprise.

A week later and a few of the larger bales of plastic oyster grow-out bags had been recovered.

This past weekend I went back to have a look at some of the submerged bags, those filled with gravel and embedded in the sand, mud and gravel.

Unfortunately they were still there. as were the many bags I had tossed up high on the shore to keep the tide from carrying them away.

I found that by slicing along one edge of the buried bags, the sand and gravel can be more easily emptied out. But, the freshly sliced plastic is also very sharp. My punctured thumb bled profusely after learning this the hard way.

What follows are images showing the consequences of sustainable, low-impact, no inputs required mariculture of West Marin.

Have a look and ask yourself if this truly is as earth-friendly as it is being portrayed. I imagine with some thought, as well as more labor, oysters could be grown and harvested without leaving such a mess behind.

In a future post, you’ll see evidence of the origin of many of the oysters sold in West Marin to a public that thinks they are buying “local”, as well as sustainable.

All images can be seen larger simply by clicking on them.

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Above or below, which view do you prefer?

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Next related post may be found here.

Previous related post may be found here.

See the first post in this series “Save our Tomales Bay” here.

Save our Tomales Bay – Part 4

Click on the words “Save our Tomales Bay” above to see this post as it was meant to be seen.

As always, to see a larger version of an image below, click on the image.

Last week while kayaking on Tomales Bay I came upon this grow out bag floating in the hot, bath-like water and mud south of Inverness Park – nearly to White House Pool. It had gotten loose from the area the commercial operation had placed it to grow and drifted a few miles south.

These bags get loose by the hundreds each year and drift all over the ocean, breaking down into smaller and smaller pieces of deadly plastic, one day to be eaten by a hapless bird out looking for food.

One idea that could address employment as well as ocean debris problems is for the oyster farms to hire more people to keep a closer eye on things.

Depending on the outcome of the seemingly never-ending dance of the liars, err lawyers, we may soon have many very experienced oyster-workers looking for work. And, as can be seen by anyone that takes the time to visit the waters of Tomales Bay, we have a never ending supply of feral plastic that needs tending to.


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No matter which side of the fence you stand on the oyster issue, there is no denying that the view is sublime, and one which we all need to be doing our utmost to protect from degradation.


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I shall not tire in my efforts to ameliorate the impact of humans on this most sacred of places, earth.

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Next related post may be found here.

Previous related post may be found here.

See the first post in this series “Save our Tomales Bay” here.