QUILCENE — The people at Coast Seafoods, the largest oyster seed producer in the world, don’t take kindly to Japanese oyster drills.
After all, the inch-long snails with white points and spiraled tips are known to literally suck the life out of the oysters they prey on.
“We want to get rid of all these predators,” said Greg Coates, who manages Coast Seafoods Quilcene oyster, clam and mussel hatchery, which produces more than 30 billion oyster larvae annually for Hilton’s Coast Seafood conglomerate.
So when state Fish and Wildlife shellfish inspectors recently discovered two oyster drills in some seed oysters at Coast Seafood, company managers agreed it was time to clean up the problem.
They contacted Port of Port Townsend officials, who lease part of the seven-acre Herb Beck Marina and Industrial Park acreage where Coast Seafoods operation is located at the end of Linger Longer Road.
“This is a serious threat to Coast Seafoods oyster spat production as well as all oyster and clam beds in the area of Quilcene Bay,” Port Executive Director Larry Crockett wrote to the Port commissioners a week ago.
Port officials said they would be willing to remove any and all oyster drills from the company’s site but Coates said he and company employees have chosen to take the problem into their own hands.
“We just want to move some of these big boulders and older oysters over away from our property,” said Coates.
“We maintain a drill-free beach here and that’s why we want to clean that up.”
Oyster enemies
Oyster drills, which are native to Japan, are one of the worst enemies of oysters, adult clams, other bivalves, even barnacles.
In great numbers, they can decimate entire oyster and clam beds.
The critters can be found in limited numbers around shellfish beds around the North Olympic Peninsula.
They drill small holes through young oyster shells with a ribbon-like band of teeth called the radula.
The oyster drill site of concern is about 100 feet of shoreline between the boat ramp and the Quilcene Yacht Club building.
