Micaela Clode
During this fellowship, I wanted to immerse myself in urban agriculture and environmental spaces of very urban sprawly San José. I found a burgeoning farm community and people personally dedicated to their home’s protection, culturally and ecologically. While Rachel (GrizzlyCorps fellow, roommate, dear friend) and I grow herbs and greens around our apartment and we work at our organization’s farm on Fridays, I wanted more time in the dirt. Working at UC Cooperative Extension, I learned about urban agriculture organizations around the city. I never could have imagined my desire for dirt would bring me to a citizen science project to restore the native oyster to the San Francisco Bay.
I began to volunteer Mondays and Wednesdays at a volunteer-run community garden, Taylor Street Farm, where the harvest goes directly to those who work to grow there. There, I met Samuel, who introduced me to his personal eco-restoration project: restoring the Olympia oyster to the San Francisco Bay. Samuel, who is from East San Jose and has lived in San Jose all his life, is dedicated to protecting and uplifting his home in the South Bay and has started at the microlevel with the Olympia.
He wants to “restore the keystone oyster species back to healthy populous numbers so that one day we can eat them again. Well, so that it’s safe to eat all the seafood in the bay and maybe kids can swim in there someday.”
"Samuel ... is dedicated to protecting and uplifting his home in the South Bay, and has started at the microlevel with the Olympia."
The Olympia Oyster is the only native oyster to the west coast of North America. It can be found from Alaska to Baja California. Olympias, once teeming at the shores of the Bay, are now only 1% of the population they were before the Gold Rush. Olympias were regularly eaten by Ohlone, Bay Miwok, and Delta Yokuts tribes. That time was ecologically marked by contamination from the development of the cities around the Bay and from mud and sand leaching through rivers from mining in the Sierra Nevadas. All of this, coupled with overconsumption by greedy settlers, led to significant decline in Olympia numbers.
What is the process of Olympia restoration?
Collecting discarded shells: Discarded oyster shells are collected from a local seafood restaurant Pier 402.
photo 1: discarded shells in bucket
Cleaning the shells: Shells are pecked clean by chickens at our community garden.
Curing the shells: Then, shells are cured in the sun to ensure harmful bacteria is gone. Samuel lays them in the grass for 4-6 months at the South Bay Yacht Club in Alviso (the absolute bottom corner of the Bay).
photo 2: Clean oyster shells curing in the sun
photo 3: San Francisco Bay and Alviso, where Samuel is starting his project
Creating a Habitat: Partnering with the Wild Oyster Project, Samuel receives a wire fish trap, fills it with shells and it is plopped in the water to stay 10 feet under.
photo 4: Fish trap filled with cured oysters. It is already providing habitat for these gobies who came up with it
Providing a Habitat: The recycled shells provide a solid service for new oysters to grow.
How do they grow?
photo 5: Oyster life cycle credit: Chesapeake Quarterly
You may be asking yourself, how does simply providing an empty shell as a habitat support oyster populations? In the life cycle above, the free-swimming larvae is the stage at which these habitats are crucial. Samuel and the Wild Oyster Project plan to place the fishing traps at many points in the Bay to create breeding zones and homes for the Olympia to populate.
What are the benefits?
“Oysters have superpowers!” said Linda Hunter, founder and director of the Wild Oyster Project. Single adult oysters can filter up to 50 gallons of water daily, maintaining healthy marine ecosystems. Oyster reefs also protect the coast by reducing the impact of storm waves and rising sea levels.
I feel grateful to Taylor Street Farm for connecting their community and holding space for people to connect to nature and bring home fresh food. It was kismet to meet Samuel while we worked in the garden. Researching the Olympia and its history in the bay and Samuel’s effort to multiply them fully engrossed me. It is an inspiration for all of us who want to protect our home on earth. I hope this blog offers the benefit of tapping into community resources, finding your niche, and improving where you are one step at a time.
References:
The Wild Oyster Project is a nonprofit organization in the Bay doing the work Samuel does with more people. If you are interested in this restoration project for the oysters, you can go here: https://wildoysters.org/.
Oyster fact sheet. Chesapeake Bay Foundation. (n.d.-b). https://www.cbf.org/about-the-bay/chesapeake-wildlife/eastern-oysters/oyster-fact-sheet.html
The relationship between the oyster growing cycle and supply. Pangea Shellfish Company. (n.d.). https://www.pangeashellfish.com/blog/oyster-life-cycle-on-farm
Veltman, C. (March 4, 2021). “The San Francisco Bay once teemed with Oysters. What happened?” KQED. https://www.kqed.org/news/11857703/san-francisco-bay-once-teemed-with-oysters -what-happened
Werner, M. (July 12, 2023). “Native oysters need our help coming back to the Bay. Chickens are pitching in.” Nosh. https://oaklandside.org/2023/07/12/oysters-san-francisco-bay-oakland-jack-london-restoration/#:~:text=Only%20an%20estimated%201%25%20of,flooding%20and%20sea%20level%20rise.
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