Tag Archives: oyster industry
In Depth: Mississippi Has Invested Millions of Dollars to Save Its Oysters. They’re Disappearing Anyway.
By 2015, it was clear that Mississippi oysters were in crisis. Then-Gov. Phil Bryant convened an oyster council to come up with solutions. “This is the soybean of the sea,” Bryant said at a community gathering in 2015 at which he unveiled the council’s report. “We’re going to make sure everyone enjoys it.” The council set a goal of producing 1 million sacks of oysters a year by 2025. But almost a decade later, that goal is nowhere in sight: In a region that helped pioneer the oyster industry, only 457 sacks were harvested in 2022, none of them from the public reefs that the state had worked to restore. “They’re just wasting money,” said Keath Ladner, a former oyster fisherman whose family was in the seafood business for three generations. “And the fishermen know this.” Video, Photos, >click to read< 09:37
Three oyster bays closed may have a strong impact on the oyster industry
Texas Parks and Wildlife Commissioners have voted to permanently close three bays to oyster fishing, and the closures have many Texas oystermen worried about what this means for their livelihoods. The unanimous vote comes after commissioners listened to hours of testimony against the closures from oyster fishermen. Parks and Wildlife shut down Carlos, Ayres, and Mesquite bays near Matagorda Island. TPWD says the decision to close the bays is to let the oysters grow, but oyster fishermen, like Johnny Jurisich, say the closures could hurt the oyster industry. >click to read<
Texas oyster season begins with severe restrictions for fishermen – The six-month Texas oyster season opened on Nov. 1 and Texas Parks and Wildlife Commissioners have voted to permanently close three bays near Matagorda Island to oyster fishing. >click to read< 08:53
Hurricane Ida: 50% of this year’s shrimp and oyster harvest may be lost
Fishing communities across Southeast Louisiana are down for the count after Ida. In Lafitte alone, some estimate more than 100 boats are knocked out of commission. “The shrimping community is over probably for the next three years you can’t sell shrimp in Grand Isle or Lafitte,” said Ray Champagne of Lafitte. It’s not just the boats, docks have also been wiped out, many still don’t have power, and the state’s one-billion-dollar seafood industry may lose half its production this year. “It’s going to be down at least 50% and that’s my rough guess right now,” said Patrick Banks, with La. Dept of Wildlife and Fisheries. Not only did Ida deal a blow to the shrimp industry but oystermen have taken it on the chin as well. video, >click to read< 08:53
Maryland oyster industry may be forever altered by Coronavirus pandemic
The pandemic-impacted oyster season has been difficult for the industry in Maryland, causing farmers and watermen to rethink how they sell their product and changing how programs conduct oyster restoration. Robert Brown, waterman and oyster grower, has bottom oyster leases on the tributaries of the Potomac River. Brown, president of the Maryland Watermen’s Association, said he sells the majority of his oysters to oyster packaging houses, which aren’t working at capacity because they can’t sell the oysters once they shuck them. Watermen are being hit hard in the pandemic, and it might be a few years before we get back to normal,,, >click to read< 08:36
FWC asked to help save oyster industry APALACHICOLA
“If we don’t get something done in the next one-and-a-half years, we’re not going to have a bay,” said Shannon Hartsfield, a fourth-generation oysterman who serves as president of the Franklin County Seafood Workers Association.
http://www.newsherald.com/news/fwc-asked-to-help-save-oyster-industry-1.60900
