Sustainable Oyster Farming, West Marin Style – part 8 crime scene video

Click the words above “Sustainable Oyster Farming…” to see this entire post.

Below you will find a video composed of 48 minutes of footage I recorded on 13 October while diving under 8 oyster racks in Schooner Bay.

Be sure to click the rectangle icon in the lower right of the video window to fill your screen with this HD footage.

Skip around to see the variety of messes left on the floor of The Estero by DBOC. Or grab a beer and some snacks and sit back to watch the whole thing. That way you can get a better idea of the scope of the damage at what truly is a crime scene.

Thankfully, next year no further damage will be done and the clean-up can begin in earnest.

The diving recorded here shows a portion of 1/10th of the racks being left in Drakes Estero by DBOC.



See the next post in this series here

Sustainable Oyster Farming, West Marin Style – part 7 Stewardship in Home Bay

Click the words above “Sustainable Oyster Farming…” to see this entire post. In particular, the banner image that shows two of the miles of racks in Drakes Estero, upon which I have placed several plastic bags filled with oyster shells that I found on the bottom, directly below the where they sit in this image.

Earlier this month I spent a few hours recording the mess left behind by DBOC under the oyster racks in Home Bay.

No surprises, simply more of the same disgraceful mess left behind by a firm that repeatedly touted itself as a steward of the land, with deep respect for the waters of The Estero.

Below is three brief minutes from hours of video I recorded.

Be sure to click the small rectangular icon in the lower right corner of the video window so you can see this HD footage fill up your screen. That way you’ll have a better idea of how the floor of Drakes Estero is filled with the remnants of a farce, foisted on us all as the model of sustainable farming.


See the next post in this series here

Sustainable Oyster Farming, West Marin Style – You think you’re doing something good….

Click on the words above “Sustainable Oyster Farming, West Marin Style ….” to see this entire post.

Lately I’ve been boating and diving various areas of Drakes Estero in order to get a handle on how enormous of a mess is being left by Drakes Bay Oyster Company. I assure you, it is a disaster out there. For them to suggest that the cleanup cost would be only $10,000 (which they did, more than once), is one mighty big whopper!

After diving under 8 long racks today, over one half mile of lineal rack space, I put up my sail and let the wind drive me back to the put in near the oyster processing facility.

As I pulled my boat out of the water, the manager of DBOC approached me, saying she had a couple questions she’d like to ask me. I said sure.

“We’ve been trying to figure out who is putting the tubes [french tubes] up on top of the racks.”

“That would likely be me.” I replied

“Well, there are live oysters on those tubes, and when you do that, it kills the oysters.”

“The tubes I’ve placed on the racks are from the mud on the bottom of The Estero.”

“We don’t want you to do that. We are still harvesting oysters, and that is like stealing from us.”

“Those oysters have been abandoned on the bottom of The Estero, they are not on the racks. I’m cleaning up the mess out there that you folks refuse to clean up.”

“What you are doing would be like me taking your boat and putting it in my car,” she said to me.

I will digress for a moment to correct her remark, given all that has transpired over the past almost two years.

She thinks that my picking up the mess that DBOC has been leaving in Drakes Estero for the past six and a half years or so, is like her stealing my kayak.

Sure, that is correct, if:

1 I signed a contract with a landlord to lease a place to store my kayak and was told that after 7 years, I could no longer store my kayak there.

2 During the lease, I enlisted the help of all manner of politicians, lobbyists and other groups to put pressure on the landlord to extend my lease.

3 At the end of my lease, the “home-owners association” that my landlord belonged to told me my lease would not be extended.

4 I sued the landlord and HOA. The court hearing the case rejected my claim.

5 I appealed my case to a higher court, they too, rejected my case.

6 I appealed my case to the entire bench of said higher court, they rejected my claim.

7 I appealed my claim to the Supreme Court of the United States, they refused to hear my case.

8 Lots of my buddies sued on my behalf, trying to get my lease to store my kayak extended. That case was tossed out, my buddies were scolded.

9 For the nearly 2 years I was fighting against the lease I signed, I continued to store my kayak, yet did not pay rent. And I earned income renting out my kayak to others.

And then, I ran my kayak through a shredder and left all the pieces scattered about the place I had leased.

Yeah, I can see how my picking up the abandoned mess left by DBOC is just like her stealing my kayak.

Now back to the conclusion of our exchange today…

“I’ll stop placing tubes on top of the racks”, I said.

“Are you going to pick up all the live oysters from off the bottom?” I asked her.

“We are still harvesting oysters and will continue to do so.”

“You didn’t answer my question. Are you going to pick up all the live oysters off the bottom of The Estero?”

“We are going to keep harvesting until they kick us out. After December 31, you can do whatever you want.”

“You still haven’t answered my question. I’m gonna stop placing french tubes on top of the racks, are you going to pick up all the live oysters off the bottom of The Estero?” I asked for a third time.

“Yes we will.”

Great! Then I won’t have to pick them up.

Her last words to me were, “You seem to think you are doing something good out there.”

Later, I thought to myself, “yeah, I’m showing some respect to Drakes Estero, something DBOC is good at talking about, and not so good at actually doing.

Below are images from what I saw today. They represent a fraction of the disaster left by DBOC on the bottom of Drakes Estero.

All images ©Richard James and may not be used or reproduced without written permission.

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


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See the next post in this series here

Sustainable oyster farming, West Marin style – part 2

Click on the words above “Sustainable oyster farming, West Marin style…” to see this post as it was meant to be seen.

March of 2013, I published the image showing over 5000 black plastic oyster spacer tubes I had picked up. The image shows them in a large pile of black plastic on a tarp in front of the turn-off to the DBOC farm. See it here.

Besides meeting Kevin’s parents the day I made that image (that is a post all in itself), a few months later, Kevin found my blog, had a look around, then sent me a note inviting me over to talk about oyster farming trash. I went out to meet him the same day I photographed this Osprey over Drakes Estero, see it here.

The upshot of what he told me for nearly two hours was, “Richard, all this trash you and others are finding is from Charlie Johnson, not DBOC.”

He also showed me the new way they are growing oysters using long white plastic tubes impregnated with bits of oyster shell, they are called French Tubes.

When I saw them, I commented that I thought I’d only ever picked up one in all my days on the local beaches.

He seemed to think they were the silver bullet to all this lost plastic getting into the ocean.

I thanked him for his time and we parted ways, I did not give French Tubes much more thought. That is until I went diving in Drakes Estero. I wanted to see what was going on under the surface with my own eyes.

Kevin is right, I won’t be picking up those long white tubes from all over the beaches of Point Reyes. The reason being, French Tubes sink!

Have a look for yourself. See the invasive tunicate growing all over them.

This is surely one way to keep your litter out of the public eye.


While hiking back from the mouth of the Estero today with a load of trash (over 60 black tubes) along with all the usual human-waste, I came upon 3 people that wanted to know what all the trash was on my back. After explaining my affliction (the inability to walk past garbage on the beach), I briefly explained the oyster situation to them. The mess in the Estero, the mess I keep finding in Tomales Bay etc.

The young woman looked at me and asked “Is it possible to grow oysters and not make a mess of the environment?”

That is a very good question I told her.

I’ve seen little evidence of it so far. The folks at Hog Island do seem to be improving their practice, looking for ways to lose less gear. TBOC has a long way to go to clean up their practice, I see small efforts and much larger issues to be tackled. The others I cannot speak of accurately.

If one reads the position paper put forth by the California Shellfish Initiative, dated 29 Aug. 2013 It states in part (emphasis mine) …

The California Shellfish Initiative (“Initiative”) is a collaborative effort of growers, regulators, NGO’sand scientists to restore and expand California’s shellfish resources, including oysters, mussels,clams, abalone and scallops.

The Initiative seeks to harness the creative talents of shellfish growers, local, state, and federal resource managers and environmental leaders. The Initiative’s goals are to protect and enhance our marine habitats, foster environmental quality, increase jobs, encourage inter-agency coordination and communication, and strengthen coastal economies. A successful Initiative will engage coastal stakeholders in a comprehensive process to grow California’s $25M sustainable shellfish (bivalve) harvest, restore natural shellfish reefs, protect clean water and enhance healthy watersheds.

I’d be happier if what this says were happening…


As always, click on a picture to see it larger

Oyster farm debris littering the bottom of Drakes Estero

Oyster farm debris littering the bottom of Drakes Estero


As always, click on a picture to see it larger

Oyster farm debris littering the bottom of Drakes Estero

Oyster farm debris littering the bottom of Drakes Estero


As always, click on a picture to see it larger

Oyster farm debris littering the bottom of Drakes Estero

Oyster farm debris littering the bottom of Drakes Estero


As always, click on a picture to see it larger

Oyster farm debris littering the bottom of Drakes Estero

Oyster farm debris littering the bottom of Drakes Estero


As always, click on a picture to see it larger

Oyster farm debris littering the bottom of Drakes Estero

Oyster farm debris littering the bottom of Drakes Estero


As always, click on a picture to see it larger

tunicates love oyster racks, oyster bags, oyster tubes. Non-native tunicates!

tunicates love oyster racks, oyster bags, oyster tubes. Non-native tunicates!


As always, click on a picture to see it larger

A local jelly floating by

A local jelly floating by



Snorkling near DBOC oyster racks in Drakes Estero



Snorkling near DBOC oyster racks in Drakes Estero


See the next post in this series here