Loading and launching "Suspended Singles" Yaquina Bay single shellstock oysters

At The Last Place On Earth

we take great pride in the preperation of all of our aquaculture gear.

Oyster nets need to be attached to the lines that have been made in advance. First the lines are stretched out full length, from the fence to the water's edge. The lines are straightened and the knots are oriented correctly. The bags are then attached to the lines with 75# zip strips so that the 5/16" man line actually supports the wait of the oyster bags by looping under the nets about 5" in from the ends.

The oyster seed is then loaded into the nets through a 2" PVC pipe with a 4" to 2" reducer to use as a funnel. The zips on the end of the bag do not need to be removed for loading. We count the new seed to establish a volume measurement for loading. (usually somewhere between 2.5 and 4 cups of seed depending on the size.

We attach a block to the end of our dock. A line is run from the end of the oyster line through the block and back to the water's edge where it is attached to the trailer hitch on our truck. The truck is then used to pull the oyster line into the water and to the back of the tow skiff waiting to haul the line the rest of the way into the water.

We can stage as many as 8 lines at a time next to our dock, fastened to temporary anchors. We use a 17' skiff with a 70 HP motor to tow the lines upriver. Generally we try to tow only with the current. We are capable of moving two lines at a time with our skiff. There is no substitute for experience when towing these lines into place. The small tricks and techniques developed to handle and manipulate these lines into place are far too numerous to mention. We have had our share of minor setbacks.

Loading & Launching Suspended Oyster Lines