Farming Shellfish for Almost 40 Years

by Lisa Ludwigsen

The cold clear waters of Tomales Bay in Marin County, just north of San Francisco, have provided food, medicine, materials, and transportation for thousands of years. Just onemile wide and nine miles long, this inlet of the Pacific brings fresh salt water with significant daily tidal surges, especially at its narrow mouth. Great white sharks are known to breed near the Bay’s mouth, and the San Andreas Fault runs right down the middle. Tomales Bay is a dynamic body of water, and it’s an ideal location to grow oysters that are not only delicious and fun to eat, but turn out to be an important contributor to the near-shore ecosystem.

In 1985, Martin Strain was a CPA living in San Francisco. He’d grown up in Marin County, part of a large family of Irish immigrant farmers and ranchers who had been in Olema since the 1850s. The young Mr. Strain found that he preferred working outdoors to life in an office, so after some careful research, he took the leap and leased 20 acres in Tomales Bay, and Bodega Bay Oyster Company was born.

Almost 40 years later, Bodega Bay Oyster Company is a leading supplier of wholesale shellfish—oysters, mussels, and clams—throughout the Bay Area. Martin’s two grown children, Whittaker (Whitt) and Lindsey, along with his wife Mary, have joined the business. Bodega Bay Oyster leases 90 acres in Tomales Bay and has a thriving retail outlet near Valley Ford, where visitors can purchase shellfish to go, shuck their own oysters, or order oysters (raw or barbequed) to consume on-site with a local brew or bottle of wine. Their adjacent AirBnB allows guests to fully immerse themselves in the world of local oysters with tours, as well as lessons on shucking and making a mignonette, a popular accompaniment served with raw oysters.

It’s a good time to be in the oyster business. “The pandemic was actually good for our business,” said Whitt, “because we provided a safe space for people to leave the house, gather outside in our picnic area, and eat fresh local oysters.” Sales reflect that the public’s interest in oysters and shellfish continues to grow.

People have been eating oysters as long as the two have interacted. Shellmounds are important archeological sites composed of discarded shells of oysters, mussels, clams, and other human refuse. The Bay Area city of Emeryville was originally built on a massive shellmound created by the Ohlone people, dating back to 800 B.C., which measured 60’ high by 350’ long. It held valuable evidence that oysters and other shellfish have been a crucial source of food for over 2500 years. Today, in areas across the country, oyster, clam, and mussel shells from restaurants are being diverted from the landfill to construct new coastal reefs that create habitat, stabilize shorelines, and improve water quality. In essence, they are present-day shellmounds.

Farming shellfish is a different pursuit from wild harvesting. And while it seems that farming oysters in a biodiverse shallow-shore estuary like Tomales Bay would be relatively easy, growing oysters, especially now, isn’t without significant challenges.

“The threats to the well-being of oysters change year to year. We need to be ready to adapt to the constantly changing conditions in near-shore waters,” Whitt explained. Challenges include unpredictable climate shifts, closely monitored state and federal regulations, and getting along with neighboring upstream ranches and other oyster farms. They demand patience, a measure of creativity, and commitment to resilience.

Bodega Bay oysters begin as tiny seed larvae, shipped from hatcheries in Hawaii, Washington, and Humboldt, as well as a supplier on the East Coast. Each shipment holds approximately one million seed babies, each of which is roughly the size of a red pepper flake. The larvae are promptly transferred to 2’x2’ floating bins, where they spend approximately six months under a steady flow of circulating water, being monitored and mechanically sorted until they’ve grown large enough to be transferred to 4’x2’ grow-out mesh bags in the oyster beds in the bay. Harvest takes place depending on desired size, anywhere from 18 months for extra-small up to 5 years for large oysters. Though time to maturity is very long, shelf life is short, so timing is always critical.

Oysters grow based on available nutrients, water temperature, and ocean acidity. Unlike farming on land or even other types of aquaculture, there aren’t a lot of shortcuts. The farmer can’t pump up nutrients to make the crop grow faster or employ chemical amendments to deter pests. Oysters require steady attention to ensure that storms don’t dislodge anchored frames and that natural predators, like otters, crabs, birds, and fish, don’t cause damage. Beyond that, they will grow in their spot, filtering up to 50 gallons of water per day per oyster as an added bonus.

Warming ocean temperatures, which leads to increased levels of carbon dioxide in the water, is a major concern for the health and wellbeing of oysters. The higher acidity of the water prevents young oyster shells from solidifying and also lowers their resistance to pathogens. Whitt and Martin are working with teams of scientists from National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration, The Nature Conservancy, the University of California, and California State University through the Sea Grant Program to study and develop strategies to address the threat. Scientific interventions have already helped with the recovery of kelp bed collapse associated with warming oceans in northern California.

Whitt is optimistic about the bigger picture for shellfish farming and aquaculture in general. “Awareness of the critical role of shellfish in creating healthy and clean water ecosystems is encouraging,” he said.

Within the stated mission of Bodega Bay Oyster Company is a commitment to “act as stewards of the marine environment as well as acting as responsible community members.” Whitt intends to continue to honor that mission by building public awareness and support for local aquaculture through more outreach and education.

Like the Strain family, Tomales Bay oysters are hard workers. The symbiotic partnership between humans and marine animals has always benefited the larger community. Together they improve the ecosystem, help keep our coastal waters clean, and provide a tantalizing taste of the cold, briny Pacific waters we share. Eating a Tomales Bay oyster is like swimming in that wild, salty, foggy bay—without even getting your hair wet.

Bodega Bay Oyster Company
12830 Valley Ford Rd, Petaluma
(707) 876-3010 | BodegaBayOyster.com

Open daily 9am - 5pm

Photo of juvenile oyster by Lisa Ludwigsen. All other photos courtesy of Bodega Bay Oyster Company.