Saving Seafood

Texas Attorney General Files Oyster Lawsuit Against Chambers Liberty County Navigation District and STORM

August 5, 2015 — GALVESTON, Texas — Storm clouds circling Galveston Bay have collided releasing what promises to be a hurricane of paperwork, legal wrangling and an inevitable end to the “Battle for the Bay” that has for more than a year compromised oyster production, damaged businesses and hurt the American oyster consumer.

On the final day of July, the Texas Attorney General’s office, on behalf of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD), filed a lawsuit naming Chamber-Liberty Counties Navigation District (CLCND) and Sustainable Texas Oyster Resource Management (STORM) as attempting to circumvent the state’s sole authority and jurisdiction to regulate the conservation and harvesting of oysters, mussels, and clams from state waters by executing an unauthorized lease.

According to the petition filed by Texas Assistant Attorney General Craig Pritzlaff, the CLCND and STORM have entered into an illegal lease on more than 23,000 acres of submerged lands and waters within Galveston Bay which the State legislature has vested the TPWD with sole authority and jurisdiction to regulate. By granting the lease, the District and its Commissioners subverted, preempted and interfered with the state’s regulatory and conservation programs.

The District and STORM have asserted unlawful possession over oysters in state waters and STORM is attempting to exclude entities from lawfully harvesting oysters. Through the lawsuit, the state is looking to void the lease and seeks restitution from STORM and the District.

Read the full story at Gulf Seafood Institute Newsroom

 

 

Conservationists Making Headway In Rebuilding Oyster Populations in New Jersey Barnegat Bay

July 30, 2015 — BARNEGAT BAY NJ — A team of animal conservationists have begun re-establishing the local colony of oyster in New Jersey by releasing more than a million seedlings of the shellfish, known as spat, off of Barnegat Bay.

Members of the American Littoral Society sent off around 1.5 million oyster spat in Ocean Gate, which were then taken to an artificial reef system located around a quarter-mile off of the township of Berkeley known as Good Luck Point.

The group was joined by several other volunteers on boats in taking the seedlings to the reef, where they released the oysters into Barnegat Bay before returning to shore.

The goal of the Littoral Society with the oyster colony is to improve the quality of the water in the bay through the shellfish’s natural ability to filter out impurities and pollutants in the ocean.

The group also believes that by bolstering the number of oysters found in Barnegat Bay, the creatures can help strengthen the shoreline against the effects of devastating weather occurrences such as Superstorm Sandy. The hard shells of oysters and the raise profile and irregular shape of their beds can considerably reduce the impact of storm surges waves on the bay’s shoreline.

The presence of the oyster colonies also boosts the local boating and recreational fishing industries as it provides habitats for other sea creatures such as crabs and fish.

Read the full story at the Tech Times

 

MARK BITTMAN: What oysters tell us about ocean acidification

July 21, 2015 — MARK BITTMAN — This is kind of the good news/bad news department, as so many things are: The good news is that terrific oysters are being farmed in several locations in California; the bad news is that ocean acidification — the absorption of carbon dioxide into the sea, a direct result of high levels of carbon in the atmosphere — is a direct threat to that industry.

I saw both when I visited Hog Island Oyster Co. in Marshall, an operation north of San Francisco on Tomales Bay. (Actually, I’ve eaten at and of Hog Island dozens of times, and even shot video there for a PBS series more than 10 years ago.)

Read the full story and watch the video at The New York Times 

 

Oysters could be grown in tanks to avoid weather conditions threatening industry’s future, researchers say

July 15, 2015 — Oyster growers in New South Wales may soon move their oysters into land-based tanks in an attempt to protect them from weather conditions threatening the future of the industry.

A research project is underway at the National Marine Science Centre in Coffs Harbour, looking into the viability of growing oysters in tanks for more than three weeks.

Sydney Rock Oysters in the very last stages of growth are being kept and fed in tanks and monitored for changes in condition.

Under the plan, growers would remove their oysters from rivers and estuaries late in the growing process, to protect them from floods, storms and pollution events.

Oysters are vulnerable to weather events and water pollution, and industry regulations often see large quantities of oysters labelled not fit for sale.

Heavy rain events can close estuaries for months at a time due to poor water quality.

The centre’s aquaculture operations manager, Ken Cowden, said they wanted to find out if it was viable to remove oysters from their natural environment for so long.

Read the full story from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation