NORDLAND — Jake Johnson stands on a long dock overlooking his family’s Mystery Bay shoreline, which is heavily laden with palm-sized oysters, many of which will end up as fine cuisine on restaurant tables from Seattle to southern California.
More than 70 boats anchored in Mystery Bay threaten the precious cold-water mollusks.
The state Health Department last week declared the boats as sources of pollution.
That does not go over well with Johnson, a member of the fourth generation of his family to manage the 87-year-old family-owned shellfish business long held by his retiring father Carl.
In the shellfish business for more than 60 years, Carl Johnson, now 87, started delivering clams to Seattle in 1946.
Jake’s great-grandfather, Harold Johnson, founded the business in 1921.
The company leases 32 tidelands in Jefferson County, and owns 4,000 feet of shore where the business is located near the Nordland General Store, once owned by the Johnsons on Flagler Road.
The largest commercial shellfish operation in Mystery Bay, it is now known as Marrowstone Island Shellfish Co.
