Coast Seafoods has been in the oyster business for over 50 years. Greg Dale, who heads up the Eureka operation, has been overseeing the company’s efforts to harvest these world famous delicacies in a more environmentally friendly fashion.
Rather than dredging the mollusks off the bottom of the bay they’ll now pick them from long lines of rope and PVC piping. He says the firm’s conversion came after “strong suggestions” by the state and the Feds.
But after the costly switch, Coast Seafoods’ profits have actually decreased. Dale is now worried about converting the last 15% of their harvest using the more sustainable method.
An earlier version of this story first aired June 24, 2005.
- Coast Seafoods Oyster Bed
- U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Issues Cease and Desist Order to Coast Seafoods, press release, Environmental Protection Information Center
- Members urged to respond to the Army Corps, press release, Pacific Coast Shellfish Growers Association
- “Raising oyster concerns,” North Coast Journal, May 1995
- Harvest Methods, BC Shellfish Growers Association
- A Guide to the Fishes of Humboldt Bay, Department of Fisheries, Humboldt State University
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