Oysters at Point Reyes National Seashore

I like oysters, really I do. And then I read this series of articles about oyster farms in a national park unit. and the whole thing makes me 1) never want to east oysters and 2) never go to another park unit, not for any environmental reasons, but because the entire issue is so mean and nasty and ridiculous.

Check these out for background:

http://www.nationalparkstraveler.com/2009/05/national-research-council-report-blasts-park-service-report-oyster-farming-point-reyes-natio

http://www.marinij.com/ci_12319628

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/05/10/ED1117GTVN.DTL


So this issue has been raging for months now. An oyster farmer wants to renew his lease. This oyster farmer bought the lease (which includes the farm and the land) from the previous owner, and this farmer knew that that lease would expire in 2012. That was stated CLEARLY on the contract, as are all such leases with the National Park Service. Now, he wants to renew the lease.
So the issues are as follows: the farmer wants to renew the lease and claims that it is an historic farm and a valuable cultural resource in the park (which it is, and this in and of itself highlights the complications between natural and cultural resource management). NPS says, “No.” Farmer then goes to court claiming that NPS is trying to end his lease early, which would be illegal. NPS says they are not. NPS commissions a report to see if the oyster farm is harming the otherwise pristine coastal environment; the report comes back and says, “Yes, it is.” The farmer sues. Outside researchers go in and find out that NPS more or less made the report up, even though it IS quite likely that the farm is not-environmentally sustainable. There is a very angry back and forth for a good long while, during which report after report for both sides comes out, each building on a growing stalk of anger and mutual disgust. Newspapers and the media have a field day. Insults and insinuations and lawsuits are thrown about liberally.

While everybody is busy being angry at one another, the most important aspect about this situation is being entirely ignored: the fact that the lease is up in 2012 and NPS is completely free to renew it or not and does not have to give any explanation as to why. Whether or not the farm is harming the environment, or whether or not NPS lied, or whether or not the farm is a significant cultural resource worth protecting, or whether or not the farmer is a jerk is entirely moot. Complete non-issues that everybody is making into the ONLY issues. If NPS decides to nix the renewal of the lease, there is nothing anyone can do about it. If NPS decides to keep the lease, environmental organizations will sit around fuming incessantly for a while until another sexier issue comes up. This back and forth is totally useless, and yet nobody seems to recognize that.