By: Joey Giordano and Maddy Glaser
This morning’s adventure started on the beautiful docks of the Westcott Bay Shellfish Company, where we were surrounded by clear water and birds of all kinds. Eric and Sam, shellfish farmers at Westcott Bay, greeted us on the dock of the Westcott Bay Shellfish Company after a bit of a drive across the island. Although we all brought our water gear, we spent our time at the oyster farm dry on the sunny dock.
Eric and Sam pointed out the hundreds of oyster bags laid out on racks under the water. It looked similar to the oyster farm we saw in Judd Cove, but bigger. They informed us that each bag contained anywhere from five hundred to two thousand oysters depending on their age, but they only expect 50% to actually survive. To reach full maturity, the oysters take about two years.
They showed us their sorting table and demonstrated sorting out the dead oysters. While they sorted, we asked them questions which led to interesting discussions. Apparently, their farm uses one of the most sustainable models possible to maintain their 6 million oysters. Finally, they took us to a lower part of the dock, where they kept the baby oysters. Eric pulled a couple out for us to touch; they were no bigger than a dime and very shiny. After admiring them for a while, we said goodbye and headed back down the dock.
Next, we walked to English Camp National Historical Park for a short and steep hike up Young Hill. Although we worried that the hike might be exhausting, it was not nearly as long as we thought, and after our hike up Mount Constitution the other day, we were prepared for anything. We took some fun panorama photos at the top.
Once we were back at the dorms, we prepared to meet our next guest, Katie Flemming. Katie is the Education Outreach Director for Friends of the San Juans and her job is to inform, educate, and engage members and the community in what the Friends are doing. She talked about relieving the stress that comes with working on climate change and answered our questions about running an organization. While we were discussing, Maddy pointed out Islay, who was a resident at the previous Salish Sea Sciences camp, walking by the campus. After we all waved aggressively, we went back to our discussion.
Next, we took a quick couch nap while Tom prepared his presentation about salmon fisheries! When he was a teenager, he worked at the salmon cannery on Jackson’s beach (a long time ago in a land not so far away at all). He showed us some amazing photos he took while working there, both of his coworkers and the cannery itself when it was still running. One of his photos was of Kirk Johnson (!!!), who is now the Director of the Smithsonian. He said that the hours were long and the equipment was dangerous, but that it was a good way to make money in the summers. He also described the fall of the canned salmon industry as refrigeration became more accessible; people switched to fresh filets and other canned fishes filled in the gap.
After Tom’s presentation, we shifted to dinner mode. While we were waiting for everyone to get back to the house, Joey introduced 3 5 7, a simple stick game. Despite their best efforts, Jacob and Gray could not win a single game against him. For dinner, we had well seasoned baked potatoes, delicious chili, sweet corn and steamed broccoli. After dinner, we lit a fire and made s’mores, a great ending to a great day.