The group added that allowing five years to study the new species would provide time to determine whether a number of programs to restore native oysters work.

This is the native oyster to the Puget Sound.

While San Francisco Bay had a native oyster (the same species found elsewhere on the Pacific Coast), it was never very abundant.

The Save San Francisco Bay Association recruits volunteers to monitor six sites for colonies of the native oysters that filter and clean the water.

The native oysters mysteriously died out in the 1920's, and the industry replaced them with Portuguese oysters in 1924.

By 1900 the native oysters were all but gone from Puget Sound, victims of overharvesting.

Baynes Sound beaches reminded Kagetsu of areas in Japan which produced superior mollusks to our smaller native oysters.

The aquaculture industry, public agencies, and environmental NGOs are natural partners for promoting the restoration of native oysters and their services.

The oysters obtained from the fishery are known as "Colchester Natives" (the native oyster, Ostrea edulis).