FUTURE OF DRAKES BAY
OYSTER COMPANY THREATENED
Point Reyes National Seashore Superintendent Don Neubacher has said the Park Service will not renew the use and occupancy lease for the Drakes Bay Oyster Company, formerly Johnsons Oysters, when the current agreement expires in 2012. The NPS and Sierra Club Marin Group support closure of the operation primarily on the ground that the waters of Drakes Estero were designated in the 1976 Point Reyes Wilderness Act as potential wilderness.
In 2004 the California Fish and Game Department renewed the oyster harvest areas lease for 25 years. A marine biologist for Fish and Game, Tom Moore, is quoted by the Point Reyes Light as saying that the oyster farm has the best water quality of any of the leases in the state. According to an article in the Pacific Sun, [Kevin] Lunny knew the lease was set to expire in 2012, but Lunny argues that, far from being a detriment, the oyster farm actually benefits the estuarys ecology. A return to wilderness conditions, he says, could diminish the waterway's environmental health.
For more information on the issues, go to:
KGO Channel 7 news report Wed. Dec. 12 2007. Possible Inspector General investigation concerning PRNS information about Drakes Bay Oyster Co.
San Francisco Chronicle Dec. 28. "Dispute over Oysters in Drakes Bay Pits Harvester Against Park Service"
Board Of Supervisors offers support to embattled oyster farm
For the Coastal Commission report on Drakes Bay Oysters, see link at right.
Scroll to Enforcement 6.
Commission Cease and Desist Order No. CCC-07-CD-11 (Drake’s Bay Oyster Company – Marin County) Public hearing and Commission action on proposed Cease and Desist Order to direct Drake’s Bay Oyster Company in Inverness, Marin County to 1) refrain from performing additional unpermitted development in onshore or offshore portions of property; 2) refrain from expanding operations without first obtaining a coastal development permit; 3) comply with protective measures set forth in the order; 4) complete a coastal development permit application for all development currently located on onshore or offshore portions of property and all proposed development; and 5) implement and comply with terms of any coastal development permit issued by Commission with respect to development at issue in this matter. (CAC-SF) [APPROVED]