Oysters Are Big Business in Humboldt, Says New Survey

Humboldt Bay Oyster [Photo from HSU]

Oyster beds on Humboldt Bay. [Photo from HSU]

Information from Humboldt State University:

As the oyster capital of California, Humboldt Bay’s bivalve business is big for the region, with a local economic impact of about $20 million in 2016, according to a survey conducted by Humboldt State University and California Sea Grant researchers.
 
The survey of all six oyster businesses operating in Humboldt Bay provides a snapshot of mariculture’s socioeconomic impact and can help identify opportunities and potential challenges for the industry, researchers say.
 
Humboldt Bay Oyster [Photo from HSU]

Oyster beds on Humboldt Bay. [Photos for Humboldt Branding project from HSU]

“The mariculture industry is undergoing changes, with some proposals to expand operations in the bay, so it’s important to understand the baseline when that’s happening,” says Environmental Science & Management Professor Laurie Richmond. She created and administered the survey along with Economics Professor Will Fisher, former Economics Professor Steve Hackett, student Wyatt Smith, and California Sea Grant Extension scientist Joe Tyburczy.
 
The second-largest coastal estuary in California, Humboldt Bay is the largest producer of oysters in the state. Despite the industry’s prominence, Richmond and her team found that existing data on the socioeconomic conditions of the local mariculture industry was outdated and incomplete.   
 
So in 2017, they administered a survey that asked Coast Seafoods, North Bay Shellfish, Hog Island Oyster Co., Aqua Rodeo Farms, Taylor Mariculture LLC, and Humboldt Bay Oyster Co. about everything from their revenue to the number of employees to concerns and predictions about the industry’s future.
 
Results, which focused on 2016 and were released in November 2018, revealed that while mariculture isn’t as dominant as the local commercial fishing industry, it remains a significant player in Humboldt’s seafood economy. The local oyster business was a $9.8 million industry in 2016. When the researchers calculated the indirect impacts of the industry, that figure translates into an estimated total local economic impact of $19.3 million, according to the report. 
 
That same year, Humboldt Bay produced 9.9 million market-size whole oysters, which generated most of its sales. Sixty-two percent of industry revenue came from the sale of whole Kumamoto oysters and 3 percent from Pacific oysters. 
 
Oyster seed made up 34 percent of total sales and was the industry’s largest expense, costing $4.2 of $10 million in total expenditures for 2016 — figures that surprised Richmond.
 
“When people think of the oyster business they picture whole oysters. So it’s interesting to understand how something as small as seed and larvae has a huge financial impact,” she says.
 
Other key findings include:
— The smaller Humboldt Bay oyster businesses (North Bay Shellfish, Humboldt Bay Oyster Co., and Aqua-Rodeo Farms) sell the majority of their oysters in Humboldt County.
— The industry provides roughly 100 full-time jobs and plans to expand employment in the next five years.
— The mariculture industry is active in the community, spending 267 employee hours a month collaborating or engaging with the community in graduate student research projects or other HSU activities, eelgrass and black brant studies, beach clean-ups, farm-to-table initiatives, and more.  
— Top concerns include the availability of tidelands (or access to areas in the bay where they can grow mature oysters), permitting costs, water quality, and regulatory changes.  
— Businesses anticipate higher production of oysters, larvae, and seed, and more acreage,  jobs, and revenue by 2022. Much of this projected increase is linked to the approval of the Humboldt Bay Harbor District’s pre-permitting project, which could open up more grounds for mature shellfish production. 
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24 Comments
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Willie Caso-Mayhem
Guest
5 years ago

🕯Sounded like somebody made a wise investment.

researcher
Guest
researcher
5 years ago

Unless they’ve been tested to show otherwise those oysters are full of toxic chemicals like nonylphenol. They talk about water quality concerns but what they don’t say is the reason they’re concerned is because the toxics in the water will end up in the oysters. Now how many of you think that the water coming into Humboldt Bay is clean water? Runoff from the roads, industrial waste, left over pollution from mill sites and old gas stations etc etc.

I’ll say it again. Unless these oysters are tested for a wide gamut of toxic chemicals, they should be avoided.

Perspective
Guest
Perspective
5 years ago
Reply to  researcher

Wasn’t there a recent test showing the safety of the local fish? Pretty sure the report said the oysters were clean.

Seamus
Guest
Seamus
5 years ago
Reply to  researcher

Hmm, more for me!

THC
Guest
THC
5 years ago
Reply to  researcher

They still beat the ones raised in China . I’m definitely going to wave my geiger counter over the next batch I get from the farmers market next summer.

Bozo
Guest
Bozo
5 years ago
Reply to  researcher

Sighs.

My my extended family ate them for 80+ years. They died of ‘normal’ old age stuff.
I’ve eaten them for 60+ years. Reckon I’ll die of ‘normal’ old age stuff.

>”… water coming into Humboldt Bay is clean water? Runoff from the roads, industrial waste, left over pollution from mill sites and old gas stations etc etc. ”

Good luck with that one. You won’t find it in the civilized world…
and probably not elsewhere either.

Long answer is to reduce the human population down to 1 billion (or less).
Good luck with that one too.

Orange Sunshine
Guest
Orange Sunshine
5 years ago
Reply to  Bozo

Agreed, and that’s MISTER Bozo to you!

Sparkelmahn
Guest
Sparkelmahn
5 years ago

Dr. Bozo!

Central HumCo
Guest
5 years ago
Reply to  researcher

researcher,

~let those who will be deceived, be deceived.

Guest
Guest
Guest
5 years ago
Reply to  Central HumCo

Don’t forget the leachate from the old county landfill on grizzly bluff. There used to be wells to dewater the huge pit full of garbage. Don’t know if they are still running or not, but that landfill was generated back when they didn’t give a shit what went in to it. Used to feel sorry for the seagulls that got run over by the compactors and dozers.

Jaekelopterus
Guest
Jaekelopterus
5 years ago
Reply to  Guest

Don’t forget the 4 million gallons of “Black Liquor” that was abandoned at the pulp mill in leaky silos for 30ish years.

local observer
Guest
local observer
5 years ago
Reply to  researcher

I would be more concerned with the levels of regulated contaminants that are actually tested for and found in the bay like dioxins and furans which are highly chlorinated bi-phenyls . I am not concerned with laundry detergents and surfactants while consuming oysters at the fest. I had to google a nonylphenol as I have never herd the term before.

Yum
Guest
Yum
5 years ago

Very rarely do I eat local oysters, sometimes I just need a fix. I go north and get the “triangle” so sweet and well worth the road trip

Yum
Guest
Yum
5 years ago

I very rarely buy local oysters out of the bay, sometimes I just need a fix. I prefer to take a road trip and get the “triangles” they are so sweet and fresh, tge road trip is always well worth it.

Guest
Guest
Guest
5 years ago

Dear Researcher, Please, get your facts straight!!!! Humboldt County Health Dept. requires tests on meat and water samples for every harvest. The oyster growers pay these fees or they cannot market their oysters. They also cannot harvest during and immediately after rains. The oyster farmers are literally shut down. Oysters are a major indicator of the health of our bay and a primary reason why the pulp mills are not running. If you want cleaner water, thank an oyster.

Bruce
Guest
Bruce
5 years ago

Snotty booger bivalve…yuck! These things will give you diseases they don’t have names for! They could be living in pure water, gently massaged by nubile pearl divers, I don’t care…boogers are boogers!

Bruce
Guest
Bruce
5 years ago

Boogers I tell ya!

Sparkelmahn
Guest
Sparkelmahn
5 years ago
Reply to  Bruce

Like Sea Snot, I mean Sea Urchin~!

Guest
Guest
Guest
5 years ago

Dear Researcher, please get your facts straight. Oyster farmers must pay the Humboldt County Health Department to conduct meat and water sample tests every time they harvest before they can market their oysters. Every time it rains oyster growers are literally shut down and cannot harvest until they are told it is safe. Oysters are a primary indicator of the health of the bay which has been improving since the pulp mills are no longer operating. If you appreciate cleaner water, thank an oyster.

owl
Guest
owl
5 years ago

and no ‘finding’ that Eelgrass beds are not impacted by this?

There was no mention in the quoted text about the importance of Humboldt Bay’s Eelgrass beds as such a rare and necessary part of the west coast ecosystem. It reads to me as an industry/business centered study with little balance.

This sounds like industry sponsored research that the text did not include much of that essential biological struggle and balance.
Fortunately there was good coverage and community response during the last expansion cycle.
How many times do we have to see and pay the costs of the overreach of these extractive industries and the subsequent crash and disaster?
The last application looked a lot like ‘ask for a lot, snicker and celebrate when you get more than you really would settle for’ and it was very necessary to allow the regulators look to the public like they are on the job by being so stern and regulatory and all that.

Bozo
Guest
Bozo
5 years ago
Reply to  owl

Owl… What do you do for a living? Do you raise all your food ?
Make your clothing ? Go barefoot ? Made your own computer and electricity ?
Live in a house ? Have a roof over your head ?

Willie caos- mayhem
Guest
5 years ago

🕯A lot of great opinions.

Brian
Guest
Brian
5 years ago

Favorite 2 ways of oyster prep:

BBQ (hot)
Margarita (chilled)

Sparkelmahn
Guest
Sparkelmahn
5 years ago

Humboldt the oyster capital of the USA in addition to being The CANNABIS capital. Nice!