Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
waters and mudflats seemed ideal for the cultivation of oysters, and locals
were quick to introduce the region's second major non-native species.
In 1868, a Mexican company shipped in the first foreign oysters, but
the business didn't take off in the bay until a decade later, when East Coast
oysters were able to travel coast-to-coast on ice by railroad. Three carloads
arrived. Entrepreneurs planted them in beds around the Marin, Oakland,
and Alameda shores. As other oyster ventures sprang up, they abandoned
these beds and moved to different areas. After 1875, most of the oyster
production shifted to the South Bay. The industry began importing seed
oysters, rather than adult oysters, to save on shipping costs. At the time,
the bay was considered too cold for oysters to spawn.
Though shipping oyster seed could be costly, land for growing the oys-
ters was cheap. Bay tidelands could be had for as little as $1.25 per acre.
The state was as eager to sell the tidelands as the tule marshes of the valley.
The new oyster industry thrived, especially on the mudflats off the
town of Dumbarton. By the 1890s, it had become the most valuable fish-
ery in the state. At its peak, it imported over 3.2 million pounds of seed
oysters from the East Coast to plant in bay beds and harvested up to 15
million pounds of eastern oysters per year.
The rapid development and exploitation of San Francisco Bay and its wa-
tershed soon took a visible toll. Salmon runs diminished sharply as this
delicious red fish became the staple food of the region, and its habitats re-
mained under assault from mining, logging, and farming.
In the bay itself, pollution and human activity overtook the fish. In an
1878-1879 report to fish commissioners, Mr. W. N. Lockington noted:
“The constant hurrying to and fro of the numerous ferry-boats and other
steamers, indispensable to our comfort, tends to drive away the timid
finny tribes, whilst the ashes and cinders let fall injure the character of the
bottom. But the injury from this source is small compared with that in-
flicted by the constant fouling of the waters and consequent destruction of
life by the foetid inpourings of our sewers . . . , [harming] creatures on
which human beings are largely dependent for a means of life.”
The pollution, which included both sewage and oily bilge water from the
hundreds of vessels plying bay waters, soon affected the oyster industry. By
1908, production had sharply declined to one million pounds per year, and
low output continued through 1936. In mudflats now laced with sewage,
oysters took too long to grow, and often ended up thin, watery, and flac-
cid—not to mention unsafe for diners to consume, even with a liberal
