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I've started a shellfish garden of oysters, mediterranian mussels, and manila clams in shellfish bags at manaco beach. i went to the Camano center on 5/25/05, where Bill Dewey of taylor shellfish farms, gave a talk about shellfish gardening. There were around 20 old people like me there. He grows oysters, manila clams, mussels, and geoducks on sandflats in samish bay near bellingham. For tideland owners that want to garden small quantities of shellfish, they sell small gunny shack size plastic bags that can be anchored in the low tide area saltwater. they also sell small seed (baby) shellfish that can be placed in the bags and the shellfish can grow for a year or two and then harvested/eaten.
i went to the taylor shellfish farms at samish bay on 6/11/05 and bought $93.00 worth of shellfish gardening gear.
I bought 2,000 baby manila clams, 2,000 mussels on ropes, and 500 oyster seed, plus the grow bags. i put them at manaco beach. i stacked the 3 bags of clams, mussels, and oysters on top of each other, and tied them to concrete blocks. I placed them at the -0.5 level, in a rockpile that the oldtimers bulldozed into an area to make part of the beach less rocky.
Summer 2006 update. I bought more baby oysters and shellfish this summer. The shellfish from last year are living and growing. I've tied/hog ringed, smelt size netting around old crab pots and anchored the pots to the beach. I put the shellfish in those netted crab pots to protect them from predators and storms.
March 9, 2007 ten month old pacific triploid oysters.
March 9, 2007 ten month old pacific triploid oysters.
Mussel, manila clam and oyster pot March 9, 2007
March 9, 2007 ten month old pacific triploid oysters.
Mussel and manila clam pot. I made an easy walking beach trail, by tossing rocks to one side, like the Nazca's did in Peru. Because of the storms and waves, the beach trail may only last around 2 years.
Two days later during/after a storm, the Nazca line got covered over with rocks, the sand got scoured away and the pots were moved.
Manila clams and mussels.
Shellfish pots, because of the winter storms, I anchored the pots to the beach. -0.5 low tide level.
Oyster and mussel pots. Mainly oysters and native mussels. Anchored pots at the +4.0 tide level.
native manaco beach butter clams. the most abundant clam at manaco and camano island. great to eat, use as crab pot bait, or for bottom fishing.
native manaco beach littleneck steamer clams. around 8 years ago, probably 90% of our native steamers died, during one winter for some reason, (cold weather?, storm?, disease?, predator?)
Baby Manila clams on 6/21/05, the shells are colorful. native to asia, but widely grown in puget sound and i think they can reproduce in saratoga passage.
Baby Manila clams on 7/19/05.
Baby Manila clams on 7/19/05.
Baby Manila clams on 9/15/05.
Baby Manila clams on 9/15/05.
Manila clams.
manila clams
pacific oysters. Native to japan, but the most widely grown oyster in puget sound. very hardy, grows fast and big. Needs waters of around 68-70 degrees to reproduce. Pacific oysters will reproduce in some bays of Hood Canal and south puget sound, but probably nowhere around Camano.
Baby virginica Oysters on 6/21/05
Baby virginica Oysters on 6/21/05
Baby vorginica Oysters on 7/19/05
Baby virginica Oysters on 9/15/05.
pacific oyster spat on clutch. in the area's where oysters will reproduce, oyster people place bags of oyster shell in the water, and the oyster spat will attach to the shells.
Pacific oysters. 3 months old.
triploid (sexless) pacific oysters. when the oyster is a spat or baby, heat, pressure, or chemicals are applied to the oysters, and they will obtain a third (tri) chromosome. triploid oysters are sterile, and won't try to reproduce. they'll grow faster and will not become milky or watery in the summer. oysters at camano and elsewhere, will "waste energy" trying to reproduce in areas where the water temperature does not get to 68-70 degrees.
Olympia oysters. They are native to puget sound. I don't know whether they can reproduce in Saratoga Passage. Olympia oyster don't get very big, maybe 3 inches long. extremely tasty.
olympia oysters
Baby Mussels on 6/21/05
Baby Mussels on 7/19/05
Baby mussels on 9/15/05.
mediterranean mussels
Mediterranian and native mussels. The mediterranians get bigger than the natives, but they both taste the same. 14 months old.
Virginica oysters. Slow growing, compared to the pacific oysters, they have a different flavor, and are native to the east coast.
virginica oysters native to the east coast
kumamoto oysters. native to japan. slow growing, but apparently, very tasty.
Baby manila clams, mussels on ropes, and virginica oyster seed on 6/11/05
Shellfish bags tied to concrete blocks on 6/21/05
Shellfish bags tied to concrete blocks on 6/23/05
Information about shellfish seed sale.
Information about shellfish seed sale.
Information about shellfish seed sale.
My Taylor shellfish bill for oysters, clams, mussels, grow bags and cable ties.
Taylor shellfish bill 5/13/06.
My Taylor shellfish bill 5/13/06.
My Taylor shellfish bill 6/10/06.
My Taylor shellfish bill 8/19/06.
Information from a taylor shellfish brochure about clams.
Information from a taylor shellfish brochure about mussels.
Information from a taylor shellfish brochure about geoduck clams. i saw a channel 9 show about geoduck clams in may 2005, and a fisheries biologist said that if all the various puget sound marine animals were put in different piles, (sandsharks, dungenous crabs, starfish, ect...) the biggest pile would be geoduck clams. i've looked for geoduck clams in saratoga passage, but i've never found any.
