World Photo by Lou Sennick As the tide goes out Thursday, crews from Clausen Oysters of North Bend harvest oysters from the Coos Bay tideflats.

“I never want to deny anybody a good-paying job,” says Lilli Clausen.

And when it comes to industry potentially moving to Coos Bay, the longtime oyster farmer expects reciprocity.

The Clausens began seeding oysters in Coos Bay in 1980. In those days, there were closed areas where they couldn't plant oysters, and there was one area where oysters just didn't grow. Clausen said she never knew why.

During the next decade or so, as environmental officials fretted about tributyltin and other harmful pollutants, Clausen went about her business unaffected. Clausen Oysters went on to become the largest oyster grower in Oregon in terms of acreage.

Then came the New Carissa. The ship broke apart in 1999, spewing an estimated 70,000 gallons of oil into the ocean. The wave action broke up those hydrocarbons. Clausen's oysters got a gill full.

“We had 70 percent death loss after the oil spill on 720 acres,” Clausen said.

Four years and nine months later, the Clausens recovered their losses through a lawsuit.

There have been other challenges. The company used to import oyster seed from Wilapa Bay, Wash., but that industry was shut down due to invader oyster drills, a type of snail which preys on oysters. Clausen Oysters has been forced to produce its own seed.

Now, as potential ship recycling companies look at Oregon and Coos Bay, Clausen wants assurances the work can be done without stuff falling into the water.

“I know the area is really needing jobs, so I didn't want to voice publicly much,” she said.

And she's not. On Wednesday, Clausen's bigger concern was getting her people back out on the oyster beds. Harvesting had been shut down after weekend rains flushed bacteria off the hills and into the bay.

“How much stuff can come down week after week,” Clausen opined.

Overall, Clausen said, her business has come back after the oil spill. And she wants it to stay that way.

- City Editor Elise Hamner

On the Net:

U.S. Maritime Administration

http://www.marad.dot.gov

Oregon International Port of Coos Bay

http://www.portofcoosbay.com

Oregon Department of Environmental Quality

http://www.deq.state.or.us

Secretariat of the Basel Convention

http://www.basel.int/index.html

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Coos Bay sediment sampling

http://www.nwp.usace.army.mil/home.asp