Port Madison Community Shellfish Farm

The Port Madison Community Shellfish Farm (PMCSF), located on the Bloedel Reserve tidelands on Bainbridge Island, is PSRF’s newest farm. The PMCSF seeks to connect community members directly with the benefits of a healthy watershed by growing, harvesting and eating community grown clams and oysters. Growing shellfish has many environmental benefits, including improved water quality, species diversity and eelgrass growth. In fact, a single oyster can filter 20 gallons of water a day.  Shellfish can be part of the solution to cleaning up Puget Sound. We believe this positive connection between you, your environment and your dinner plate is the key to active and enjoyable environmental stewardship. 

Harvesting oysters from the Port Madison Community Shellfish Farm on a beautifully sunny day
(photo Marc Shor)

The Port Madison Community Shellfish Farm is looking forward to the 2012 harvest season with anticipation; mouths are watering for more of the sweet and delicate tasty bounty of oysters that the farm produced during its first two seasons in 2010 and 2011.

We increased our Community Supported Aquaculture (CSA) memberships from 6 members in 2010 to 31 faithful individuals or families in 2011, and we have set a goal to sign up 50 members for the 2012 season.  More and more Bainbridge residents are building a connection to their marine resources and renewing their commitment to clean water and healthy shorelines.  Thank you to all who have supported the farm by purchasing memberships, volunteering during farm seedings and harvests, and slurping the delicious oysters that are the result of our efforts to protect and maintain great water quality and healthy beaches surrounding Port Madison and Bainbridge Island.  All farm proceeds go back into local water quality and habitat improvement projects!

Sign up now before our 2012 PMCSF CSA memberships sell out, and enjoy five harvests between May and September of our delicious Port Madison Petites!  Pass the word along to your family, friends and neighbors and be a part of this growing community of oyster lovers.  Print, complete and mail in the pdf membership form below, or sign up online using our paypal link.

Membership Details

You can use PayPal to pay online! (You don't need a PayPal account; just a credit card.)

 
 Celebrating the harvest

Where to find Port Madison Petites

• Bainbridge Island Farmer’s Market
• Local Harvest Restaurant
• Hitchcock
• Harbour Public House
• Bainbridge Island Town and County
• Poulsbo Central Market

Highlights & Completed Projects

2010 was PMCSF’s inaugural season, followed by another hugely successful season in 2011!  Thanks to the help and support of our community, project partners and farm members, accomplishments to date include:

• Received the first farm permit under the Army Corp’s new national aquaculture regulations.
• Increased the number of Community Supported Aquaculture (CSA) farm members from 6 in 2010 to 31 in 2011.
• Harvested 780 dozen oysters in 2010 and 643 dozen oysters in 2011.  This supplied our CSA members, the Bainbridge Island Farmer’s Market, special events, local restaurants and the Town and Country and Central Market grocery stores.
• Involved 154 volunteers who spent nearly 400 hours seeding, harvesting, sorting, and hauling oysters.
• Restocked the PMCSF with 25,000 new ½ inch oyster seed during our “Planting the Seed; Sowing and Celebrating Local Shellfish” outreach event.  We intend for this celebration to become a festive annual volunteer workshop.
• Prevented nearly 1500 gallons of sewage from potentially entering Port Madison as a result of a free mobile pump-out service PSRF provided in Port Madison Bay from June through September, 2010 and 2011.
• Launched a new program to provide free oysters to homeowners who have their septic tanks inspected or pumped.
• Installed many new shellfish gardens around Bainbridge Island, Suquamish and Indianola, bringing the total number of personal shellfish gardens supported by PSRF to more than 129.
• Hosted shellfish seed sales in 2010 and 2011 distributing over 165,000 oyster, mussel, and clam seed to individuals for their own shellfish gardens.  

Project Partners 

• Bloedel Reserve
• Sound Food
• Safeway Foundation
• Bainbridge Community Council
• Bonnell Cove Foundation
• Kitsap County Health District
• Plauche & Stock
• Puget Sound Energy Foundation
• Sustainable Bainbridge,
• Bainbridge Watershed Council
• City of Bainbridge Island
• Port Madison Yacht Club
• Pacific Coast Congress of Harbor Masters and Port Managers
• Cherry Creek Environmental
• Royal Bank of Canada Blue Water Project

Mobile Pump-Out for Boaters

Puget Sound Restoration Fund would like to let you know that FREE mobile pump-out service for boats was available for the last time this past summer, 2011. The Peters Fund for a Sustainable Community (through the Bainbridge Community Foundation) and CSA members in our Port Madison Community Shellfish Farm generously helped to fund this program.  Sweet Pea Pumping visited Port Madison every Sunday from late June through early September to provide this free service.  Thank you to those boaters who took advantage of this reliable and convenient service during the past two summers.  These efforts prevented pollution from entering the Port Madison waters that support our community shellfish farm and healthy nearshore habitats.

Beginning in 2012, boaters will need to foot the bill for ongoing mobile pump-out service. If enough boaters sign up, Sweet Pea will continue to visit Port Madison during the summer to provide this unique mobile service at an affordable price.  PSRF has enjoyed working with you the past two summers to “kick-start” this service.  The program was started to create market demand for a routine mobile pump-out service and help create a client base of boaters who desire to keep Port Madison clean.  Please call Sweet Pea Pumping (206-356-3104) or Puget Sound Restoration Fund (206-780-6947) to sign up for the 2012 summer pump-out schedule.

In 2010 and 2011, almost 70 boaters took advantage of this service removing nearly 1500 gallons of sewage from potentially contaminating the bay.  The majority of users indicated that they would pay $20 to have their holding tanks pumped in the future.  To this end, PSRF looks forward to working with the Port Madison and Seattle Yacht Clubs and Port Madison residents to broaden support for routine mobile pump-out services. Thank you for supporting a clean marine environment!

For more information about this project or to get involved, please contact josh@restorationfund.org