Oyster Bay (Puget Sound)

Oyster Bay is an inlet in southern Puget Sound which branches off from Totten Inlet. The bay spans Mason and Thurston counties, in the U.S. state of Washington.[1] Kennedy Creek empties into the bay at the U.S. Highway 101 overpass.

Oyster Bay was named for the oyster industry it supports.[2] The bay is the site of one of only four oyster reserves in Puget Sound where the Olympia oyster grows.[3][4] Oyster Bay is one of the most productive chum salmon runs in the state with over 40,000 spawners a year, estimated to be two-thirds of the run that would exist without human impacts.[5][6]

Oyster Bay at low tide, looking northwest from the Thurston County side. A commercial oyster bed can be seen in the bay right of center, and an oyster processing facility behind it in Mason County. Kennedy Creek Natural Area Preserve is on the far shoreline at the left edge. The thundercloud is in the vicinity of the Olympic Mountains, out of sight here.

References
  1. U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Oyster Bay (Puget Sound)
  2. "Thurston County Place Names: A Heritage Guide" (PDF). Thurston County Historical Commission. 1992. p. 63. Retrieved 28 March 2018.
  3. State oyster reserves established, Washington State Legislature, RCW 77.60.010, retrieved 2015-06-01
  4. Eric Wagner (December 11, 2014), "Gifts from the sea: shellfish as an ecosystem service", in Jeff Rice (ed.), Encyclopedia of Puget Sound, Puget Sound Institute at the University of Washington Tacoma Center for Urban Waters
  5. Viewing Chum Salmon: Kennedy Creek (South Puget Sound), Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, retrieved 2015-06-01
  6. Conservation Priorities: An Assessment of Freshwater Habitat for Puget Sound Salmon (PDF), Pacific Biodiversity Institute and The Trust for Public Land, 2000, p. 103
  • Findlay, Jean Cammon, and Paterson, Robin, Mosquito Fleet of South Puget Sound, Arcadia Publishing (2008) ISBN 0-7385-5607-6.

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