Oyster Farm Facing Shutdown Wins Reprieve

[The Straight Story]

Oyster Farm Facing Shutdown Wins Reprieve

SAN FRANCISCO (CN) - The 9th Circuit blocked the shutdown of a California oyster farm that is fighting a permit denial from the U.S. government.

When Kevin Lunny bought the 1.5-acre oyster farm from its previous owner in December 2004, the deed came with a 40-year reservation of use and occupancy set to expire on Nov. 30, 2012.

The deal gave the National Park Service the right to issue a special use permit at the end of the term, but it instead left the fate of Drakes Bay Oyster Co. in the hands of U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar.

On Nov. 29, Salazar refused to grant Lunny a 10-year special use permit to continue cultivating approximately 1,060 acres of underwater oyster beds.

...

Oyster farming has occurred there for the last 85 years, and Drakes Bay purports to supply 40 percent of the California cultivated oyster industry.

http://www.courthousenews.com/2013/02/26/55193.htm

[patricia92243]

1. Hear the appeal in May??? What happens to the oysters until that date? n/t