The Rise And Decline Of The Olympia Oyster 



Experimental oyster plantings in Oakland Bay, financed 

 by the pulp mill, had been producing some oysters dur- 

 ing the period of dumping the liquor to Goose Lake; but 

 when the liquor began returning down Goldsborough, 

 these experimental beds were wiped out and the exper- 

 iment was given up as a failure. 



The Washington State Oyster reserves, which prior 

 to the advent of the pulp mill, had been producing two- 

 year-old Olympia Oysters for seed were never again able 

 to furnish seed and to this day produce nothing. Thus, an 

 important source of revenue has been lost to the state. 



The following table and quotations from Washington 

 State Fisheries 36th and 37th Annual reports throw 

 much light on the condition of the State Oakland Bay 

 Oyster Reserves. 



Year No. of Sacks Selling Price 



1925 3,467.4 $6,934.80 



1926 _..„__1,368.1 $2,736.20 



1927 1,894.2 $3,788.40 



1928 2,239.3 $4,478.60 



"According to the general custom in handling the seed 

 in Oakland Bay beds, after the 1927 seed was sold from 

 the upper dikes, the 1926 catch of seed in the beds close 

 to the narrows was moved into the upper dikes and this 

 seed in turn produced the two-year-old stock sold in 

 1928. The lower beds left open for the setting of spat in 

 1927 did not produce any seed and again last season, 1928, 

 no set developed, likewise in 1929; to date indications 

 point to another barren season. Mill operations were not 

 fully underway in 1927 until after the usual oyster 



(121) 



