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Accuracy of the Scientific Conclusions Released by NPS to the Public
Pages 71-79

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From page 71...
... The committee received four discrete public versions of Drakes Estero: A Sheltered Wilderness Estuary. The last version released to the public was available on the Point Reyes National Seashore internet site on May 11, 2007, and was removed from the site on July 23, 2007.
From page 72...
... to what NPS reported in their multiple versions of Drakes Estero: A Sheltered Wilderness Estuary and the "Corrections" and "Clarification" documents. While NPS in all versions of Drakes Estero: A Sheltered Wilderness Estuary accurately depicted the ecological significance and conservation value of Drakes Estero, in several instances the agency selectively presented,
From page 73...
... Overall, the report gave an interpretation of the science that exaggerated the negative and overlooked potentially beneficial effects of the oyster culture operation. NPS has issued two documents correcting and clarifying Drakes Estero: A Sheltered Wilderness Estuary -- "Acknowledgment of Corrections to Previous Versions of the Park News Document Drakes Estero: A Sheltered Wilderness Estuary," posted on July 25, 2007 (NPS, 2007e)
From page 74...
... , this statement does not place the relatively small effect of the oyster racks on eelgrass coverage in the appropriate context. NPS's Clarification document provides a more balanced assessment, explicitly characterizing the observed pattern of eelgrass distribution around culture racks and placing it into the context of an approximate doubling of eelgrass coverage in Drake Estero from 1991 to 2007.
From page 75...
... Later versions of Drakes Estero: A Sheltered Wilderness Estuary and the Clarification document appropriately include the observation that approximately 50 acres of eelgrass habitat show propeller scars leading to and from oyster culture racks that can be reasonably attributed to boats associated with oyster operations. A more complete overview of how eelgrass and oyster culturing may functionally interact would also mention the potential for oyster filtration to depress turbidity and thereby locally enhance light penetration and extension of eelgrass habitat into deeper water and would note the potential for oyster biodeposits and ammonium excretion to fertilize eelgrass.
From page 76...
... , and insufficient sampling data exist to characterize the entire fouling community as nonnative. Furthermore, none of the versions of Drakes Estero: A Sheltered Wilderness Estuary acknowledges that hard substrate in the form of the native Olympia oyster shells likely existed in abundance within Drakes Estero in the past.
From page 77...
... • Versions III and IV of Drakes Estero: A Sheltered Wilderness Estuary state that oyster culture operations have resulted in an 80% decline in harbor seals "at one area" in Drakes Estero. This description is misleading because it implies that there has been a decline in the seal population at Drakes Estero whereas what has been observed is a reduction in the use of some of the haul-out subsites during the breeding season.
From page 78...
... of Drakes Estero: A Sheltered Wilderness Estuary highlights a quote from Dr. Janet Thompson of the U.S.
From page 79...
... . The presence of shells of living, albeit cultured, oysters re-introduces biogenic hard substrates for fouling organisms, although differing in location by including elevated rack and surface plastic mesh culture structures, and the maintenance of feeding cultured oysters represents re-introduction of ecological filtering and biodeposition functions that prevailed before the native oysters were overharvested.


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