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The Watershed Project

oyster

20th Anniversary Celebration: Oyster Picnic

Celebrate The Watershed Project’s 20th anniversary with an oyster picnic! We’ll take a nature hike, do a quick shoreline survey, and have an oyster BBQ out at the pier. It’s Father’s Day, so bring your dad! Your canine companions are also welcome.

Details: Meet at the main parking area of Point Pinole Regional Shoreline Park at 1pm. From there we’ll walk into the park and follow the Bayview Trail out to the point, stopping to do a quick oyster survey. We’ll provide a picnic lunch, and you’ll be able to barbeque oysters provided by Waterbar. We’ll walk back out to the parking lot by 4pm.

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The Sex Life of Oysters | How Olympia Oysters Reproduce Under the Bay’s Warm Waters


By Chris Lim

Birds do it. Bees do it. But how do oysters do it?

How does an animal reproduce when it spends its adult life attached to a hard surface and unable to move? An oyster has no eyes to see its potential mates. Oysters have no calendar or clock to coordinate a mating time. To make the story even more interesting, Olympia oysters (Ostrea lurida), the only oyster native to the West Coast and thus San Francisco Bay, is a hermaphrodite, meaning they have both male and female sex organs.

So why would an oyster need both sex organs and how does that help an oyster continue to reproduce generation after generation? Olympia oysters begin their lives as males and sexually mature in about a year. Then the oysters change to female after spawning. A regular alternation of sexes between male and female apparently continues throughout life. This alternating lifestyle is advantageous because at any given time an oyster should have potential mates nearby.


When the waters of the San Francisco Bay estuary warm in the summer, male Olympia oysters release sperm balls and on contact with seawater, the sperm balls disintegrate, releasing the sperm. Other male oysters sense this and soon follow suit, releasing their sperm balls into the water. A male oyster releases hundreds of thousands of sperm balls, each containing approximately 2,000 sperm. Females then bring the sperm into their shells through respiratory action and fertilize their eggs internally. The fertilized eggs develop inside the female for about 10 days before being released into the environment.

The larvae then become part of the planktonic community, floating with the currents and tides. After approximately three to four weeks, the larvae metamorphose to their juvenile form and are ready to settle on and attach to a hard substrate, such as oyster reef balls, rip rap along the shoreline, or scientific monitoring devices. If the oysters are able to find a hard substrate (which can be difficult and thus the reason for our native oyster restoration efforts), they attach themselves and will hopefully remain there to live out their lives.

If the attached baby oyster, or “spat,” can survive a number of factors–including predation, low salinity, exposure during high temperatures, and sedimentation–then the oyster should be able to produce the next generation of native oysters in the Bay who will also participate in the odd and unique sexual life of oysters!

Photo credits (from top): Robert Sisson, National Geographic; Robert Downey, Pacific Coast Shellfish; Chris Lim, The Watershed Project

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Students Get Wild! | Oyster Education Program Triples Impact

By Chris Lim


“How do oysters breathe when not in the water?”
“Can oysters move?”
“How do oysters reproduce?”

These are just a few of the questions high school students are asking in our Wild! Oysters program. The tiny Olympia oyster, the only oyster native to San Francisco Bay, is the star of this education program, part of the Living Shoreline Initiative. Students gain an appreciation for their environment by experiencing firsthand its biodiversity, natural systems, and beauty. For some, it’s a first step in a lifetime of environmental stewardship.


Wild! Oysters is a seven-visit program, including two field trips. Our visits are designed as a cohesive unit with one visit building upon the previous meeting so students gain a deeper understanding of the material. We use rigorous scientific studies to stimulate the left brain and creative art projects to stimulate the right brain. We allow students to practice their public speaking skills through role play or sharing their work after activities. We’ve even added climate change components into each visit.

Our curriculum begins with broad brush strokes and then gets more detailed. This design allows us to discuss very big ideas, such as the interconnectedness of our world’s oceans, as well as specifics like native oyster species and plankton. Then, the curriculum gets personal by delving into how Bay Area communities can assist with native oyster restoration. All students are invited to participate in oyster workdays to build oyster reef balls or monitor native oyster populations.


We believe ‘doing’ science outside of the classroom reinforces our in-class learning and makes for a more fulfilling experience. During the first field trip, students conduct a transect study at Point Pinole Regional Park in Richmond, site of our native oyster restoration. For a day, students feel what it is like to be a marine scientist. By exposing students to the many opportunities in applied science beyond high school, students may find inspiration to further an environmental career in science or restoration.

The second field trip takes students to a partner site, Pickleweed Point Oyster Company, located in Tomales Bay on the edge of one our National Marine Sanctuaries. Imagine a community garden, but for shellfish. Here the students experience what it is like to be an oyster farmer for a day.

This year, Wild! Oysters is excited to partner with three local schools: George Washington High School in San Francisco, Terra Linda High School in San Rafael, and our newest partner, Making Waves Academy in Richmond. Over 150 students will each receive over 13 hours of contact with the Wild! Oysters education team. During this time together, we hope to answer more oyster questions and provide a meaningful experience for students.

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