Tag Archives: oyster season

Skipjacks, oysters: The fight for survival of two Chesapeake Bay icons

September 30, 2023   Mid Atlantic

Starting Sunday, oyster enthusiasts will once again be free to pick up their rakes and tongs and harvest Maryland’s signature shellfish delicacy from the floor of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries.A month after the season begins, commercial oyster fisherman will take to the water to get their own haul. But one boat will stand out among from the rest: the skipjack, a nimble oyster-dredging sailboat that represents the state’s long maritime tradition.  “The oysters are looking better. I’m optimistic,” said Shawn Ridgley, a veteran oysterman and skipjack captain who currently gathers data for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. A typical skipjack carries a crew of five and can legally harvest 100 bushels of oysters a day. Lately, “boats are catching their limit by 10:00, 10:30 in the morning,” Ridgley said. >>click to read<< 14:05

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Texas Oyster Fishing at a ‘Crossroads’ – Parks and Wildlife has closed most of the state’s bays to commercial harvest.

November 9, 2022   Gulf of Mexico
Oyster season got off to a sluggish start this month with only nine out of Texas’ 29 public harvest areas open to commercial fishers. And last Thursday, the Parks and Wildlife Commission voted to close 2,100 acres across three bays near Rockport permanently as a sanctuary for oysters, fish, and other wildlife. Although this new sanctuary takes away just 3 percent of the state’s total harvest area, it’s become a flashpoint for fishers. Because of temporary closures elsewhere, by the end of last oyster season, this small area was providing a third of the harvest. Hundreds of people from commercial fishing families protested outside the Parks and Wildlife headquarters in Austin. “How can we survive if you don’t let us work?” the protestors’ signs read. >click to read< 19:07
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Alabama’s Oyster Harvest Off to Great Start

October 21, 2022   Gulf of Mexico

The state’s oyster season opened on October 3, and the oyster catchers are busy plucking those delicious bivalves from the reefs in coastal waters. Scott Bannon, Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources’ Director of the Marine Resources Division, said both the number of catchers and sacks of oysters harvested per day are up from last season. “To my knowledge, we had a record number of catchers for an opening day at 243,” Bannon said. “The max we had last year on any given day was 211. Last year, we averaged 180 catchers a day. This year, we’re averaging 220. “The harvest is going well. We averaged about 800 sacks a day last year, and we’re averaging about 1,200 sacks a day this year.” >click to read< 07:42

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Coronavirus: Maryland seafood industry affected by outbreak

March 24, 2020   Mid Atlantic

“Right now, the climate in the seafood business is absolutely horrific ever since the announcements that eat-in restaurants were shut down. We really took it on the chin. It virtually shut down the last two weeks that were left in the oyster season,”,  Out on the water, those who catch the oysters are feeling the pain, as well, on what was set to be one of the better oyster seasons on record. “It kind of put us out of business and now we’re looking at spring fishing and going into summer fishing, and the markets are slowed almost to a standstill for that and now we’re worried about the crabs,” said Jim Reihl, Maryland Oysterman’s Association president. Video, >click to read< 13:57

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