Tag Archives: Sustainable Texas Oyster Resource Management
Judge Sets Texas Straight on Oysters
A local navigation board had no authority to issue an oysterman an exclusive lease to grow and harvest oysters in Galveston Bay, as only the state can do that, a Texas judge ruled. Three Galveston-based oyster companies sued Sustainable Texas Oyster Resource Management (STORM) in April 2014, calling the fisherman’s lease a land grab of state resources during a lean time in the oyster industry. Oysters are a $1 billion industry in the United States, and by far the largest share comes from cultivated, not wild, oysters. Tracy Woody, president of STORM and owner of Jeri’s Seafood in Smith Point, a small town on the bay, said his lease from the Chambers-Liberty Counties Navigation District was valid, and that he would use the waters for sustainable oyster harvesting, not for personal gain. “Should I pillage and plunder a public resource for personal gain?” Woody said in an interview Monday. “Or should I try to sustain it, without using any taxpayer money?” But in a 2-page order on Sept. 28, Galveston County Judge Lonnie Cox granted the Galveston companies summary judgment and voided the lease. Read the rest here 16:40
It was only a matter of time before the state of Texas got in on the fight over STORM
For months private oyster lease holders in Texas have been fighting over whether a navigation district had the right to issue a lease to Sustainable Texas Oyster Resource Management (aka STORM) — ceding control of a large portion of oyster reefs in Galveston Bay to just one family — and now the state has finally waded into the fight by filing a lawsuit against STORM and everybody else who helped the company obtain a lease of land that the state says is and always has been under state control. Read the rest here 08:33
Oyster wholesaler’s attempt to privatize over 23,000 acres of Galveston Bay could change who owns the bottom of Texas bays
At issue is a lease between Chambers-Liberty Counties Navigation District and , based in Smith Point, which is commonly referred to as STORM. While the two parties in the lease say the contract authorizes the wholesaler alone to harvest oysters, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and General Land Office disagree. Read the rest here 07:20
