April 21, 2014 — From Texas to Florida, the number of oysters harvested in the Gulf is at one of the lowest on record. Three years after the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, oyster industry experts have no answers on the cause of the steep decline; especially on public grounds relied upon by commercial fishermen.
Oystermen and processors indicate that Gulf oysters are tough to come by. Various Gulf State fisheries are conducting studies on oyster reproduction and growth, but answers have been elusive.
Scientists are studying the spill’s impact on Gulf oysters. Information is being compiled as part of a restoration plan aimed at bringing the Gulf back to pre-spill conditions; the Natural Resources Damage Assessment Act better know as the Restore Act.
Commercial oystermen from across the Gulf fear they are beginning to see the full extent of the 2010 oil spill damage.
Oysters take approximately three years to reach maturity, so the spill’s damage could just now be affecting the industry. Before the spill oyster landings were in a cyclical lull and currently should be trending upwards; but they’re not.
Louisiana Landings Lagging
In Louisiana, reports from industry members indicate fewer oysters are being landed this season than last, consistent with the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries recent public seed ground stock assessment of the state’s $300 million industry.
“Areas that once produced abundantly just a few years ago are barren,” said Wilber Collins, owner of Louisiana’s Collins Oyster Company and a member of the Louisiana Oyster Task Force. “I’ve got three boats and only one is working. We just don’t have enough oysters. The demand is unbelievably high, so we are getting a great prices for what we have.”
Collin’s company has been forced to harvest from one spot west of Bayou Lafourche. He hopes there will be enough oysters there to hold him until spring.
“It’s not a decline; it’s zero population,” Steve Voisin, CEO of Motivatit Seafood, whose oyster business has been a part of the Houma area since 1971.“ “I’ve never seen it so low, but remain optimistic because I’ve seen it come back time and time again,” he told HoumaToday.com.