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Sophia De Quattro
Professor Sullivan
SL: Honors Aquatic Ecosystems
13 February 2013
Assignment 3: Library Research I
A Lost Resource: Shellfish in San Francisco Bay by Mitchell Postel is a peer-reviewed
article published by California Historical Society in California History in 1988. Shellfish have
provided inhabitants of the bay as a food source for thousands of years. The native oyster, Ostrea
lurida, is a smaller species compared to the eastern oysters, Crassostrea virginica, which
distributors began transporting after the completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869 on a
mass scale. When Growing and harvesting oysters in the San Francisco Bay became more
prominent, the industry had an advantage over oversea competitors in China after overfishing
and pollution caused a drastic decline in the harvest of crustaceans. The main producer in the
oyster industry was John Stillwell Morgan, who marketed native oysters in San Francisco Bay in
December of 1849. Soon, quality of harvest began to come with complications in the bay
because of the harsh currents that introduced cold, fresh water from Sacramento and San Joaquin
rivers. Silt and debris from heavy hydraulic mining in the 1860s and 1870s also contributed to
smothering the population of oysters. In 1872, Samuel J. Purseglove made efforts to improve the
oyster population. He did so by acquiring underwater lands in the San Mateo County bay line to
transfer the oysters, where conditions are best. The oyster business steadily inclined, and the state
charged private developers $100 an acre in 1890. Previously, the charge was a single dollar.
Eastern oysters were highly prized but failed to reproduce in the waters due to the temperature of
the Pacific and Atlantic waters differing. For the Crassostrea virginica, minimum spawning

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temperature is 66 to 69 degrees Fahrenheit. In contrast, native oysters spawn at a minimum
temperature of 57-61 degrees. This discrepancy is enough for the eastern oyster seedlings to not
set. After decades of prime sales, the damaged environment was not a quick fix. Quarantines
were issued by The San Francisco Department of Public Health when shellfish beds were
discovered to be highly contaminated. Regulations for state health forced facilities to shut down
in 1932. This affects both the economics and environmental aspects of the situation.
Contamination has become a prominent issue in the sales of oysters and induced a collapse of the
industry in 1939.
The San Francisco Chronicle published a news article written by Peter Fimrite in 2003
titled Restoring Oysters World Good for Bays Health. The native Californian oyster is on the
track to disappearance after inhabiting the waters for centuries. Efforts to sustain native
populations include: placing oyster arrays, a mechanism that holds oyster shells subdued
underwater by small boat anchors; growing Olympia, native oyster, larvae in the laboratory;
raising seedlings in hatcheries located in Tomales Bay until big enough to be planted in the bay; .
As environmental awareness continues to expand, solutions are sought out to organically or
naturally fix the damaged ecosystems. Oysters are unique because they are able to filter the
water. However, due to silt and pollution flowing into the bay after rainfall, oysters are less
capable of filtration. One example of sediment pollution in Tomales Bay, where the population of
oysters are endangered, is an effect of a mercury mine on Walker Creek. Now, a large plume of
sediment is visible. The abundance of shellfish offered Native Americans a source of food as far
back as 4,000 years ago. Coppery is the flavor used to describe the flavor of the tiny mollusks
when discovered by early pioneers in the Gold Rush. Sources were easily depleted when the
Olympias were cultivated and shipped to locations nationwide. Oyster beds had been so heavily

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farmed that by the early 1900s native oysters were essentially gone in San Francisco, Tomales,
Humboldt, and Newport bays in California. Another cause of population depletion came with
alien predators like the Japanese oyster drill and the flatworm, the two biggest threats to native
shellfish. 1993 marked the beginning of efforts for restoration. Michael McGowan, a research
scientist and adjunct professor of biology at San Francisco State, studies the effects reefs may
have on other aquatic life in San Francisco Bay. He notes that oysters are an important building
block in the system by living in the habitat and providing the habitat. McGowan believes that if
the restoration efforts are successful, fish and bird populations may improve. Restoration of the
oysters will overall restore the whole ecosystem.

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References
Postel, Mitchell (Mar., 1988) A lost resource: shellfish in san francisco bay. California History,
Vol. 67, No. 1, pp. 26-41.
Fimrite, Peter (2003) Restoring oysters world good for bays health. San Francisco Chronicle,
April 28.