JOE MUELLER’S July 31 Marin Voice column (“Doing what’s right for the ecology”) is surprisingly devoid of facts. Almost everything in his column is contradicted by the scientific literature on Drakes Estero.
Mueller says oysters rob nutrients from marine wildlife. But a series of studies from UC Davis found just the opposite — marine invertebrates and fish are thriving in Drakes Estero. The National Marine Fisheries Service (responsible for protecting harbor seals under the Marine Mammal Protection Act) reported the seals are healthy and not being disturbed.
The National Academy of Sciences found no evidence for any major environmental impact of the oyster farm on Drakes Estero.
Marin News
Marin Voice: Science shows oyster farm doesn’t harm the estero’s ecology
By Corey Goodman
Guest op-ed column
Posted: 08/03/2013 06:05:00 PM PDT
JOE MUELLER’S July 31 Marin Voice column (“Doing what’s right for the ecology”) is surprisingly devoid of facts. Almost everything in his column is contradicted by the scientific literature on Drakes Estero.
Mueller says oysters rob nutrients from marine wildlife. But a series of studies from UC Davis found just the opposite — marine invertebrates and fish are thriving in Drakes Estero. The National Marine Fisheries Service (responsible for protecting harbor seals under the Marine Mammal Protection Act) reported the seals are healthy and not being disturbed.
The National Academy of Sciences found no evidence for any major environmental impact of the oyster farm on Drakes Estero.
Let’s consider a few of Mueller’s assertions about the science vs. the facts.
• “Thousands of roaring motorboat trips.”
There are not thousands of trips (that’s off by an order of magnitude), they don’t disturb wildlife and there is no “din.” The Park Service presented false soundscape data on the oyster boats using imported measurements from a jet ski. The noise issue is manufactured.
• “Artificial modification through invasive species.”
The invasive tunicate is endemic in the temperate waters around the world. It was not introduced by the oyster farm. It doesn’t modify anything; it’s just a nuisance. And there is no evidence the tunicate has colonized eelgrass in Drakes Estero.
• “Thousands of plastic tubes that have littered the embayment.”
The great majority of the plastic debris comes from a cultivation method used by the predecessor, something the current owner has been diligently cleaning up.
• “Marine mammal disturbances.”
The oyster boats stay over 700 yards away from the harbor seals. The Park Service took over 300,000 photographs from secret cameras over a three-year period, and found no evidence the oyster farm was disturbing seals.
More recently, the Park Service contracted an independent harbor seal behavior expert to analyze the photographs, and he found “no evidence for disturbance” of seals by the oyster farm.
Mueller is also wrong on the history. He writes that wilderness advocates “are asking to save one (yes, just one) estuary on the entire western coast of the United States.” But Limantour Estero has been marine wilderness since 1999 (along with part of Drake Estero and Abbott’s Lagoon).
Mueller says designating all of Drakes Estero as wilderness would preserve it from human influences, but most seal disturbances are caused by park visitors and occur in the currently designated wilderness area.
Mueller says Congress signed “an agreement” to designate Drakes Estero as wilderness. What agreement?
The farm’s lease has a renewal clause. The authors of the Point Reyes Wilderness Act (then-Rep. John Burton and then-Sen. John Tunney) said they intended the farm to remain.
The Sierra Club and the Citizens’ Advisory Commission for Point Reyes National Seashore advocated for the farm to continue as a nonconforming use in perpetuity.
Mr. Mueller says that some Marin residents “don’t fully understand the science behind the controversy;” given how many of his assertions are contradicted by the facts, one can’t help but wonder if he is one of them.
Corey Goodman of Marshall was a professor of biology at University of California, Berkeley and Stanford University for over 25 years, and is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences
Drakes Bay Oyster Company & the National Park Service. Watch the video, "THE FRAMING OF AN OYSTER FARM" at http://vimeo.com/52331881 