RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN SHELLFISH CULTURE ON THE 



U.S. PACIFIC COAST 



JOHN B. GLUDE' 



OYSTERS 



Two species of oysters are produced in the States 

 of Washington, Oregon, and Cahfornia in the bays 

 shown in Figure 1. The small native oyster, Ostrea 

 liirida Carpenter, 1863, is found in all three states, 

 but is raised commercially only in the southern part 

 of Puget Sound. Wash. Production is low, but prices 

 are extremely high since this oyster is served as 

 a specialty in seafood restaurants. 



The major species produced on the West Coast of 

 the United States is the "Pacific" oyster, 

 Crassoslrea gigas Thunberg, 1793, which was first 

 introduced from Japan about 40 yr ago. Except for 

 the period 1941-46 seed oysters have been imported 

 from Japan each year. Periodically local reproduc- 

 tion occurs and U.S. growers are able to augment 

 their seed supply by collecting spat locally. 



Major oyster producing areas are Willapa Bay, 

 Grays Harbor, and Puget Sound in Washington; 

 Tillamook, Yaquina, and Coos Bays in Oregon: 

 Humboldt Bay, Tomales Bay, Morro Bay, and 

 Drakes Estero in California. 



The major part of U.S. West Coast production 

 comes from Washington, as shown in Figure 2. Peak 

 production of over 10 million pounds of shucked 

 meats was reached in 1954 to 1956. Since that time 

 production has decreased to a mean of 6.4 million 

 pounds for the period 1966-70. 



Oyster production in California increased rapidly 

 from 1954 to 1957, exceeded 1 million pounds of 



meats from that time until 1965, and decreased 

 somewhat in the following years, but again exceeded 

 1 million pounds in 1970. 



Oyster production in Oregon reached nearly 1 

 million pounds per year in 1950 to 1952 and then 



N^^ 



PUGEJ SOUND 



BRITISH COLUMBIA 



IDAHO 



' Deputv Regional Director. Northwest Region. National 

 Marine Fisheries Service. NOAA. Seattle. WA 98U)9. 



Figure 1. — United States Pacific coast. 



89 



