June 16, 2016 — GALVESTON, Texas — Johnny Halili tossed an open oyster shell overboard. Like most of the oysters culled from the floor of Galveston Bay on Tuesday, it was dead.
“Three more years,” he said.
The Galveston County Daily News reports recent heavy rains and flooding along the Brazos River sent freshwater draining into the bay, pushing down the bay’s salinity — the amount of salt in the water. The influx of freshwater is choking some young oysters.
Oysters are resilient animals. But Texas’ oysters have taken a succession of hits in recent years: first it was Hurricane Ike in 2008, which dumped sediment over the bay floor; then prolonged drought, which made the water too salty. Now, heavy rains are the latest assault on oysters.
For oystermen, Mother Nature’s twists and turns have created a costly waiting game.
Halili, who with his wife, Lisa, owns Prestige Oysters in San Leon, tested salinity levels at some of his oyster leases last week after days of rain and flooding. One of his tests found a salinity level of zero parts per thousand, or freshwater.
Oysters thrive with salinity levels around 14 parts per thousand, Halili said.
Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Galveston County Daily News