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.


Click image for a larger version

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


Click image for a larger version

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.


IMG_1046


Click image for a larger version

IMG_1045


IMG_1044


Click image for a larger version

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.


Click image for a larger version

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.


Click image for a larger version

IMG_1050


Click image for a larger version

IMG_1081.cc
Boat loaded down with several hours work cleaning up after local oyster farmers.


IMG_7031.cc
Feral plastic unloaded and turned into a monument to oyster profits over a clean environment.


Click image for a larger version

IMG_7042.cc


IMG_7035.cc

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.


Click image for a larger version

IMG_1084


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.


Click image for a larger version

IMG_1049


IMG_1048


Click image for a larger version

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.


IMG_1055


Click image for a larger version

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.


IMG_1053


Click image for a larger version

IMG_1052
IMG_1080


IMG_1079


Click image for a larger version

IMG_1078


IMG_1076


Click image for a larger version

IMG_1075


IMG_1073


Click image for a larger version

IMG_1072


IMG_1070


Click image for a larger version

IMG_1069


IMG_1068
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.


Click image for a larger version

IMG_1067
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.


IMG_1066
No oysters in this long abandoned grow-out bag. Just sand and mud.


Click image for a larger version

IMG_1064
No oysters in this long abandoned grow-out bag. Just sand and mud.


IMG_1063
No oysters in this long abandoned grow-out bag. Just sand and mud.


Click image for a larger version

IMG_1061
No oysters in this long abandoned grow-out bag. Just sand and mud.


IMG_1060
No oysters in this long abandoned grow-out bag. Just sand and mud.


Click image for a larger version

IMG_1059
No oysters in this long abandoned grow-out bag. Just sand and mud.

.

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.

RJames.IMG_0723

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…

RJames.IMG_0724

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?

RJames.IMG_0729

RJames.IMG_0728

RJames.IMG_0727

RJames.IMG_0726

RJames.IMG_0730

RJames.IMG_0745

RJames.IMG_0744

RJames.IMG_0743

RJames.IMG_0742

RJames.IMG_0741

RJames.IMG_0740

RJames.IMG_0739

RJames.IMG_0738

RJames.IMG_0736

RJames.IMG_0735

RJames.IMG_0734

RJames.IMG_0733

RJames.IMG_0732

RJames.IMG_0731

RJames.IMG_0746

RJames.IMG_0747

RJames.IMG_0748

RJames.IMG_0750

RJames.IMG_0751

RJames.IMG_0752

RJames.IMG_0753

RJames.IMG_0754

RJames.IMG_0755

RJames.IMG_0756

RJames.IMG_0757

RJames.IMG_0759.1

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

RJames.IMG_0760

RJames.IMG_0762.1

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

RJames.IMG_0763

RJames.IMG_0764

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


Historic-Oyster-Trash

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.

RJames.IMG_0770

RJames.IMG_0779

RJames.IMG_0781

RJames.IMG_0784

RJames.IMG_0787

RJames.IMG_0789

RJames.IMG_0790

RJames.IMG_0791

RJames.IMG_0792

RJames.IMG_0793

RJames.IMG_0794

RJames.IMG_0795

RJames.IMG_0796

RJames.IMG_0802.cc

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.

RJames.IMG_0803

RJames.IMG_0804

RJames.IMG_0805

RJames.IMG_0806

RJames.IMG_0807

RJames.IMG_0808

RJames.IMG_0809

RJames.IMG_0811

RJames.IMG_0812.cc

RJames.IMG_0813

RJames.IMG_0814

RJames.IMG_5384.cc

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.

RJames.IMG_5385.cc

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.

.

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.

Sustainable oyster farming, West Marin style.

Click on the title of this post to read it and see a related header image.

Sustainable oyster farming, West Marin style. Click image to see larger version.

Sustainable oyster farming, West Marin style.
Click image to see larger version.

Nearly 6000 HDPE (high-density polyethylene) tubes used in the production of oysters in Drakes Estero. One person picked up every one of these by hand over a period of 3.5 years. All were found as far south as Slide Ranch, just south of Stinson Beach, and as far north as the tip of Tomales Point, as well as all points in-between.

Those black (and one green) grow-out bags are a fraction of the bags I recovered. The green one was found in Tomales Bay and is likely from one of the growers that raise oysters in that body of water.

Read about HDPE here.

NOTE: It has been pointed out to me a number of times that these tubes are made of high-density polyethylene (HDPE), not poly-vinyl chloride (PVC). I am finally getting around to correcting that error. [2014.03.30]

See the next post in this series here