Olympia Oyster (Ostrea Lurida)
Let's start here: when Mark Twain waxes about the oysters he loved most in San Francisco; he was talking about an Olympia Oyster from the Willapa Bay.
Olympias (Ostrea Lurida) are the indigenous West Coast oyster. Overfishing, logging, and hydraulic mining nearly wiped them out by the end of the 19th century. By the 20th century, they were almost extinct.
Dredging had been conducted on our beds for nearly 100 years before we took over. In 2021, when we bought our first farm, we ended the practice of dredging on our beds and encouraged the return of eelgrass. Within 12 months, we saw an explosion of Olympias. One of the few oysters that are brooders (meaning they have both male and female reproductive organs and can fertilize eggs in their shells), they require firm ground and protection. To provide that, we put oyster shells down on our beds to give the bed stability and a base for them to attach to, while the eelgrass slows the flow of water through and over the beds. By stopping dredging, adding shell to the beds, and restoring eelgrass, we enabled their recovery.
In 2024, the Washington State Department of Wildlife requested our Olympias for DNA testing to establish them as the base DNA reference for Olympias in Willapa Bay, further validating the significance of our restoration efforts.
Additionally, we are highly focused on culling young Olympias from the oysters we harvest on these beds and returning them to grow, ensuring the continued sustainability of the population. We are the only farm we know of that actively practices this method.
Our Stony Point beds were the first non-indigenous farm on the Willapa, marking an important milestone in the region's aquaculture history.
Today, we believe we have the largest wild, sustainable, commercial population of Olympias in the world. If not, we will within the next three years. Like Mark Twain, we believe that Olympias are simply the best oyster in the world.
Hands down.
Olympias are a small oyster, never more than about 1.5" in diameter. They have a distinctive and amazing flavor. Olympias are very slow-growing and take 3-5 years to reach commercial viability.