Click the words above “Street trash washed into Lake Merritt…” to see this entire post.
Having learned that it is much more useful to stop the flow of trash into the ocean than it is to walk the shore picking up after everyone else, I’ve been visiting Lake Merritt in Oakland the past few years to try to turn off that trash tap.
If you’ve ever visited Oakland, you’ve seen, among other things, people living everywhere – on sidewalks, under bridges, in bushes along the roads, all around Lake Merritt. You’ve also seen streets and waterways filled with trash – EVERYWHERE.
I learned what happens during the first big rain event of each season, as well as that there are 62 storm drains carrying water (and everything else) from the streets of downtown Oakland into Lake Merritt (actually an estuary, connected to SF Bay). See what I saw on my first visit in October of 2016 here.
People play, boat, swim, defecate, urinate, bath, shave in Lake Merritt. Birds and fish live and feed in Lake Merritt. A very sad situation.
Today I read in a local paper of the latest effort to help these people living in horrid conditions off the street and into permanent housing. Read about that here.
Instead of chasing homeless people from camp to camp, city to city, it seems to me to make more sense that all the different cities, Caltrans, BART, Union Pacific etc. work together, share the cost and make a long term commitment to help these folks find a safer place to live that is not so damaging to the environment.
At the rate we are destroying our oceans with our plastic and other trash, WE MUST stop polluting the sea. This problem will not go away simply by pushing it in to some other person’s view.
I am working to connect the above mentioned groups and encourage them to work together to develop a long-term, regional solution.
Below you can see what Lake Merritt looked like on the “first flush” of 2017.
As always, click on an image to see a larger version. Please contact me if you wish to use any of my images in any way.
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If you’d like to educate yourself about one of the major causes of the opioid crisis depicted below in images, read the following articles:
Click on the words above “Oakland’s Lake Merritt – first flush on 16 October, 2016” to see this entire post.
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Being somewhat learned about trash, and less so about water, I called the guys at the boat store where I buy my kayaks in Oakland, California Canoe & Kayak last October just as a huge storm was bearing down on us.
“Where will I find the trash.” I asked?
“Lake Merritt!” , was the reply, without hesitation.
So off I went, cameras, umbrella and rain gear packed.
Not only does the first big rain of the year make roads slick with oil, it also scours the streets and drains of all the trash left by humans in the wrong place, carrying it towards the sea. Or, in this case, Lake Merritt.
The inlets that bring storm drain run off from the streets of Oakland to Lake Merritt are swirling pools of detritus.
Imagine walking 4 miles down South Beach after a storm, compressed into three-hundred square feet.
This is where much of the 8.5 million tons of plastic that we humans dump into the oceans each year (and growing) comes from.
We need to fix this. Soon.
Maybe TOTUS (Twit Of The United States) has some answers on how to make Lake Merritt fabulous again?
Click the words above “Save our Tomales Bay – 39 Leasewalk M430-17…” to see this entire post.
March 2015 I shared some disturbing images of an area used (misused) by Point Reyes Oyster Company to grow oysters using a method known as rack & bag culture. Click here to see that post.
August 2015 a meeting was held at Marconi Center in Marshall where most growers and most agencies with jurisdiction over Tomales Bay were present. The owner of PROC was present as I made a presentation on the state of the messes left by mariculture practices in Tomales Bay for nearly a century. See that presentation here.
At this meeting, the owner of PROC stated that he did not like losing gear and would appreciate it if I, or anyone else that found his abandoned oyster/clam bags would simply return them to him.
Another attendee of this meeting, Tom Baty mentioned that as the leader of the Tomales Bay cleanup project for 11 years, this group, at the suggestion of the growers, would leave found bags at the boat ramp at Marconi Cove for the growers to pickup. Tom stated that no bags were ever picked up by the growers.
November 2015 I recorded images of this area yet again. It appears that no effort had been made to pick up any of the bags strewn about on the bay bottom. Watch the 6 minute video below and see for yourself.
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Click on this image, then click again to see it in great detail.
Overhead view of rack & bag culture area on lease M-430-17.
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Harsh winds and waves disperses these bags all over the bay. In the wetlands at the mouth of Walker Creek, in less than three weeks, salt grass and pickleweed grow through the mesh and almost completely cover a grow out bag, making it a permanent and invisible part of the precious ecosystem that is Tomales Bay.
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This bag lay here for less than 3 weeks.
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If growers what to continue to use public waters to make a profit, they need to show greater respect for the planet. Improving their methods so they lose less gear, and recovering any lost gear themselves.
Likewise, the California Department of Fish & Wildlife needs to take a more active role in enforcing litter laws and actually monitoring the leases they administer on a regular basis.
In the future, additional coastodians near Morro Bay and Humboldt Bay will help ensure growers adhere to Best Management Practices [soon to be included in all mariculture leases]. These new coastodians will also monitor the job being done by agencies whose mission is oversight of growers profiting from public lands and waters
Each year, 8 million metric tons of plastic are dumped into the seas of our tiny planet. Each of us needs to redouble our efforts in making sure we are not adding to that number, and, that we do all we can to help others meet the same goal.
Click the above words “Save our Tomales Bay – Part 26 Good news and great news” to see this entire post.
As I slipped on my mud boots yesterday in preparation for my seventy-seventh week of walking the shore near the TBOC retail site to pick up their trash, an odd sound filled the air.
Power tools, like none I’d heard before at the farm. Hmmmm?
Found zip-tie number one as soon as I set foot on the beach. No zero-day day today Tod. Soon, the second and third were in the bag. Along with some “tourist trash”, or likely oyster customer trash given the location. Still that sound…..
Then I turned the corner to see Tod and nine of his guys fanned out in the mud, picking up trash. Was I hallucinating?
No, there they were.
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Tomales Bay Oyster Company owner and staff picking up their trash. What a great idea!
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The truck was on the beach too, but no oysters in it.
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Truck full of Tomales Bay Oyster Company trash no longer creating an eyesore in the bay, nor a risk to wildlife.
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Next to the truck was the source of the noise. Tod had hired 1-800-got-junk to cut up the large mountain of rusting oyster racks that had been in the bay for 25 years, and on this beach for a few months at least.
This is a great sight to see. I thanked Tod and his workers and even tried to help them, but was shooed away by Tod.
Let’s hope that this trend continues. That is, any mess made by the oyster companies gets picked up by the oyster companies. Tod and his workers told me there are at least as many old, rusting racks spoiling the bay still to be removed.
Not to mention the thousands of PVC tubes and other plastic trash left over from Drew Alden, the previous leaseholder that left this in the bay for somebody else to deal with.
Preferably, we’ll see oyster companies that make very little mess.
Redesigning their gear to reduce loss, regular patrols of the beaches and bay to pickup their lost gear in a timely fashion and workers that do not take shortcuts or purposely drop garbage in the bay will all contribute to a healthier ecosystem.
Panorama of the area blighted by Tomales Bay Oyster Company, in the process of being de-blighted.
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1-800-got-junk guys removing oyster farming junk from Tomales Bay.
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Please take a moment to read this brief document, then write Sonke Mastrup, the Executive Director of the Fish & Game Commission, as well as Randy Lovell, the State Aquaculture Coordinator at the CA Dept Fish & Wildlife and tell them you want stronger language in the leases they provide to growers using your waters to make a profit.
Sonke can be reached at: fgc@fgc.ca.gov – 916-653-4899
Randy can be reached at: randy.lovell@wildlife.ca.gov – 916-445-2008
Click the words above “Save our Tomales Bay – Part 22 Leasewalk M430-17…” to see this entire post.
On 14 March I paid a visit to the large lease operated by Point Reyes Oyster Company (PROC) at the mouth of Walker Creek.
Below you can see some images showing the state of this leased area on that day.
I have lifted and shaken many bags on this lease, and as far as I can tell, all the oysters in these bags are dead.
Other oyster growers may be dropping zip ties by the thousands into Tomales Bay, but Point Reyes Oyster Company seems to prefer to drop plastic coated copper wire with the same fervor.
Can all this plastic and copper be good for the native organisms living (trying to live) in Tomales Bay?
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Area in bright polygon depicts lease M-430-17, the area shown in the images below.
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Grow-out bags laying in the mud, racks in a state of disrepair on lease M-430-17, run by Point Reyes Oyster Company.
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About 20 pounds of plastic coated copper wire i picked up from under the racks, laying in the mud on lease M-430-17, run by Point Reyes Oyster Company.
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Mystery cloth serving unknown purpose (other than littering) on lease M-430-17, run by Point Reyes Oyster Company.
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Mystery cloth serving unknown purpose (other than littering) on lease M-430-17, run by Point Reyes Oyster Company.
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Mystery cloth serving unknown purpose (other than littering) on lease M-430-17, run by Point Reyes Oyster Company.
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Abandoned grow-out bag laying in the mud on lease M-430-17, run by Point Reyes Oyster Company.
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Abandoned grow-out bag laying in the mud on lease M-430-17, run by Point Reyes Oyster Company.
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Grow-out bags laying in the mud on lease M-430-17, run by Point Reyes Oyster Company.
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Grow-out bags laying in the mud on lease M-430-17, run by Point Reyes Oyster Company.
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Racks in a state of disrepair on lease M-430-17, run by Point Reyes Oyster Company.
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Grow-out bags laying in the mud, racks in a state of disrepair on lease M-430-17, run by Point Reyes Oyster Company.
Click the words above “Save our Tomales Bay Part 21 Leasewalk M430-15…” to see this entire post.
On 22 March I paid a visit to the large lease operated by Hog Island Oysters (HIO) near Tom’s Point (lease M-430-15), and another Hog Island lease at the mouth of Walker Creek (lease M-430-10).
I’ve been mostly sharing findings on the leases run by Tomales Bay Oyster Company (TBOC) due to the ease of access to the southern lease, as well as because their leases are some of the messiest places on the bay.
Getting to the far north lease of HIO takes more time and energy, so I don’t get there too often.
Often I am asked by people “What about Hog Island? Do they make as big a mess as TBOC?)
My usual response is “All the growers make a mess, HIO makes the least mess from what I can tell.”
Until now, I thought TBOC and crew were the only culprits when it came to cutting and dropping zip-ties into the bay during harvest. I found 54 zip-ties on this day along a very short section of shore, with only moderate effort.
As you can see from the images below, HIO has room to improve their methods.
As always, click on an image to see a larger version.
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Green polygon depicts Hog Island Oysters lease M-430-15, near Tom’s Point. Red arrow points to location where abandoned grow-out bags were left on 22 March. Each yellow pin shows location of abandoned grow-out bag. T21 is where I reattached 3 bags of live oysters to anchor line.
Click the words “Save our Tomales Bay…..” above to see this entire post.
Over the past two years I’ve been boating the waters and walking the shore of Tomales Bay cleaning up all the trash I find, most of it from the oyster farmers.
I’ve focused on TBOC given my proximity to their ~160 acre southern lease and their proclivity to make a mess. Soon you will be seeing reports showcasing the activities of the other growers of Tomales Bay.
In the meantime, I am very pleased to share images of a very positive change of events.
One of my big gripes of the oyster farmers is how they blame messes on the prior leaseholder.
I’ve been gently suggesting to the owner of TBOC for some time that it would be a good idea to remove the thousands of PVC tubes and hundreds of rusting re-bar racks that sit idle, an unsightly testament to the past.
Well, Saturday while out for my weekly walk of the shore near to the TBOC retail site, a longtime TBOC worker showed me how he had removed two rows of rusting racks. A very time-consuming, but welcome effort.
There are hundreds of racks left to remove on the southern TBOC lease, as well as hundreds more up at Walker Creek on other growers’, leases.
But, this is a HUGE and welcome effort by TBOC and I want to thank them and encourage them to keep at it.
Thank you TBOC. Tomales Bay thanks you, the flora and fauna of Tomales Bay thank you, and I hope the people of West Marin thank you for cleaning up what has been a blight on the bay for nearly two decades.