March 19, 2026 — Few people are looking forward to spring more than Dale Parsons, a fifth-generation bayman and oyster farmer from Tuckerton.
Parsons is trying to put his oyster farm back together after what was probably the most disastrous winter he’s endured as a grower of the salty bivalves. He said it will likely take a few years for him to be whole again, barring no bad weather setbacks again.
“Every form of damage you can think of, we suffered,” the 59-year-old Tuckerton resident told the Asbury Park Press. “If you have consecutive years with winters like this, it’ll put people out of business.”
Parsons said he lost one-third of his oysters, or roughly 300,000 out of 1 million, when the Barnegat Bay froze over this winter, trapping his leases in freezing water. At a wholesale price of 50 to 70 cents per oyster, he estimates he lost $165,000 worth of oysters.