Click on the words above, “Pelican feeding frenzy over Bolinas Lagoon” to see this entire post.
A few months ago, an uncommon event unfolded before my eyes as I drove to my friend Tess’ house for dinner in Stinson Beach.
Hundreds of Brown Pelicans were swarming, diving, squawking as they gorged themselves on a large school of fish below.
Pelicans are an amazing bird to watch. Whether in flight or standing on a rock, they possess a prehistoric, erudite quality that I am drawn to. Seeing 20-30 of them in a long string flying inches over the waves always stops me in my tracks.
Click on the words above “Sustainable Oyster Farming, West Marin Style…” to see this entire post
Sunday the 20th found me out on Drakes Estero on a superb day to enjoy this wilderness jewel. A light south headwind on my paddle out made for a light tailwind, coupled with a strong flood tide to push me back after a day diving to see what lay beneath the surface.
Having replaced my polarized glasses I’d broken two years ago, this was my first time boating on The Estero with the ability to easily see underwater. An amazing world of kelp, eal-grass, nudibranchs, bat rays, leopard sharks, fish and crabs all went about their business of eating, trying not to be eaten and reproducing.
Sadly, after years of use by a “Sustainable, respectful of the land oyster farm”, the Estero floor is now littered with abandoned plastic, oyster shells and lumber treated with toxic chemicals.
Thankfully, Drakes Bay Oyster Company has a “deep respect for the land and waters of the Estero ecostystem”.
Just imagine what the place would look like if some company without such strong morals had been running the show…..
Below is a 7 minute view of Drakes Estero, below the surface. It is High Definition, so click the small rectangle in the lower right corner of the video window to fill your screen, especially nice when the large shark comes into view.
While not the best footage (drifting with the tide holding a camera on a pole), it does give an accurate representation of what, sadly, is found under many of the oyster racks encroaching on The Estero.
As my camera skills develop, I plan to venture out to the northern part of Tomales Bay and share equally disturbing views of the side-effects from years of resource extraction in those waters.
Click on the words above “Sustainable Oyster Farming…” to see this entire post.
NOTE: Those of you that come back to this page again and again, please consider adding a thoughtful comment. This page is meant to stimulate public discourse on the situation at hand.
July 1st was the first day to go boating on Drakes Estero since the closure to protect Harbor Seals began on March 1st. I had not been out there since February and really wanted to go visit this special place again. On July 6th I took my boat and cameras out to visit the same oyster racks I described in an earlier post here.
I wanted to see if any clean-up had been done since my last visit.
The location of the two oyster racks I visited are just outside the mouth of Home Bay and can be seen in the image below.
Click the image to see a larger version.
The first rack I dove near was nearly half occupied with “french tubes”, long white tubes upon which oysters grow directly. The other half of the rack was partially occupied with the older style “black spacer tubes” [see a pile of over 5000 of these tubes I picked up on Point Reyes Beaches here], and partially devoid of tubes of any kind.
What I saw on the bottom under the french tube area shocked me, it was worse than I imagined. I pulled from the bottom, 136 french tubes, all of which were devoid of oysters, but a fraction of what is down there.
Below are still images and a video of what I saw.
Those tasked with cleaning up the mess of the Drakes Bay Oyster Company have their work cut out for them. Each tube I dug out of the mud clouded the water instantly, reducing visibility to nearly zero. In a little over 3 hours, I collected the 136 tubes from under half of one rack, and I estimate 60-70 tubes from under only 20 lineal feet of the adjacent rack. Even with dive gloves on, my fingers bled again and again from the numerous cuts caused by razor sharp oyster shells.
I was unable to load the other 60-70 tubes on my boat, as they were encrusted with mostly dead oysters. I stacked those on top of the racks above where I found them in the mud.
60-70 “french tubes” left on floor of Drakes Estero by Drakes Bay Oyster Company
—
click on image to see larger version
—
Drakes Bay Oyster Company left these in Drakes Estero
—
click on image to see larger version
—
—
click on image to see larger version
—
Oyster farming trash left on the floor of Drakes Estero by Drakes bay Oyster Company
—
click on image to see larger version
—
Oyster farming trash left on the floor of Drakes Estero by Drakes bay Oyster Company
—
click on image to see larger version
—
Didemnum vexillum. invasive tunicate growing on a suspended oyster growing device called a french tube.
—
click on image to see larger version
—
Didemnum vexillum. invasive tunicate growing on a suspended oyster growing device called a french tube.