There is a storm churning the waters of Galveston Bay that could affect the supply of Gulf oysters throughout the five Gulf States, as well as well national and international markets. Photo: Prestige Oysters
by Ed Lallo/Gulf Seafood News Editor
There is a storm brewing in Galveston Bay that could affect the supply of Gulf oysters throughout the five Gulf States, as well as well national and international markets. Sustainable Texas Oyster Resource Management (STORM) has leased submerged bottomland owned by the Chamber-Liberty Counties Navigation District (CLCND) for the purpose of growing oysters bypassing the State of Texas; an action that could change the current landscape of the Texas oyster industry and possibly affect other seafood harvests.
Galveston Bay is one of five oyster producing areas in Texas, a state that has an annual oyster harvest second only to Louisiana. Photo: Prestige Oysters
The Navigation District lease with STORM is in conflict with current state leasing practices of private oysters beds, historically issued and administered by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD). The 30-year CLCND lease with STORM covers more than 23,000 acres and includes current public and private oyster leases already issued by Parks and Wildlife to other harvesters.
STORM was awarded the lease after approaching the district with an offer to pay up to $69,000 a year for the exclusive rights to plant and harvest oysters on submerged land that stretches to Smith Point and extending west to San Leon in Galveston County.
Terry Haltom, Chairman of the Chambers and Liberty Counties Navigation District, said he’s not certain if his organization had the authority to issue the lease but went ahead with the deal because Sustainable Oyster agreed to pay all legal costs. Photo: Carol Skewes/The Vindicator
Galveston Bay is one of five oyster producing areas in Texas, a state that has an annual oyster harvest second only to Louisiana. Oysters coming from state waters amount to approximately 20% of current U.S. production. The only Bay in Texas currently having private leaseholders, Galveston Bay historically has produced more than 80 percent of the oysters harvested in the state.
The current controversy occurs during a time that the State has recommended the Bay be closed to oyster harvesting amid concerns immature mollusks are being removed and reefs are still recovering from Hurricane Ike in 2008.
The State has been responsible for the issuing leases, or “certificates of location”, to oystermen since the 1880’s. Leaseholders have an interest in a defined area to build and maintain oyster beds at their own expense, but hold no right of ownership to the bottomland. State leases are for a period of 15-years with all rights reverting back to the State at that time for reconsideration.
Private and Public Beds Involved
According to Parks and Wildlife figures, if valid the Navigation’s District claim to the area would take control of an area where there are currently more than 452 acres of private oyster beds held by seven leaseholders and more than 3900 acres of public oyster reef currently under its supervision. In addition, there is vast shoreline acreage having large oyster populations. Under TPWD fisherman have not been allowed to harvest within 200 feet of shore because of the danger of damage to private docks.
Tracy Woody, manager of Galveston’s Jeri’s Oyster Company, founded STORM citing TPWD’s ineffective management of the States oyster reef and the dwindling supply of market size oysters harvestable on State reefs. Photo: Ed Lallo/Newsroom Ink
Tracy Woody, founder of STORM and manager of Galveston’s Jeri’s Seafood, cited TPWD’s ineffective management of the State’s oyster reefs as a cause for a dwindling supply of harvestable market size oysters. With the STORM contract, the Navigation District has taken the position it has exclusive right to determine who plants and harvests oysters on its land.
Terry Haltom, Chairman of the Chambers and Liberty Counties Navigation District, said he’s not certain if his organization had the authority to issue the lease but went ahead with the deal because Sustainable Oyster agreed to pay all legal costs. The District has a history of entering lease agreements for submerged bottomland, including one with Parks and Wildlife.
The Chamber-Liberty Counties Navigation District actions are based upon patents to state owned lands it purchased in the 1950’s under the 1925 Revised Civil Statues of Texas, Article 8225. It claims title to submerged lands, and may lease those lands for navigation purposes, including the creation and maintenance of commercial, and private oyster beds on the land.
The new contract has set off a chain of intergovernmental bickering.
The current Texas Water Code states the purpose of its navigation districts created under Article XVI, Section 59 of the Texas Constitution are for:
- Improvement, preservation and conservation of inland coastal water for navigation
- The control and distribution of storm water and floodwater of rivers and streams in aid of navigation
- Any other purposes necessary or incidental to the navigation of inland and coast water or in the aid of these purposes.
Based on the navigation district charter, Texas General Land Office General Counsel William Warnick issued an opinion that the lease is invalid because it fails to meet any of the authorized purposes. He found that the navigation district lacks the authority to enter into the lease, and STORM cannot rely on the lease to grant any right to act on the navigation district property. In addition, the Texas Permanent School Fund owns the mineral rights located within the lease.
“CLCND’s ownership of submerged land is subject to the limitations of its enabling authority under the Texas Constitution”, said Ann Bright the general counsel for Parks and Wildlife. Photo: TPWD
“If anyone were to attempt to prevent the development of our minerals, in upholding our fiduciary duty, we would pursue all remedies offered to us by the Constitution and the laws of the State of Texas,” said Warnick in a letter to Mary Beth Stengler, the general manger of the Chamber-Liberty Counties Navigation District.
The State’s Parks and Wildlife Department, which currently holds oversight of all seafood harvested in state waters, has joined with the Land Office in condemning the purpose of lease. In its opinion the CLCND lacks the authority to enter into a lease that purports to exclude current oyster leaseholders or the public from property covered by the lease or that purports to convey rights regarding the harvesting of oysters.
“CLCND’s ownership of submerged land is subject to the limitations of its enabling authority under the Texas Constitution, its specific purpose as defined by the Texas Legislature, and the reservations and limitations of the Patents themselves,” said Ann Bright the general counsel for Parks and Wildlife in a letter to STORM.
Parks and Wildlife has made it clear game wardens would enforce the current law and may issue citations for interference with the lawful conduct of other commercial oyster leaseholders, hunters, trappers and fishermen.
Texas Water Code §61.111
STORM and CLCND cite Texas Water Code §61.111 in their claim to manage the resources. It states the responsibilities of the Navigation District are:
- Improve rivers, bays, creeks, streams, and canals inside or adjacent to the district;
- Construct and maintain canals and waterways to permit or aid navigation;
- Issue bonds to pay for these improvements.
The Code also states the District may contract with any person necessary or convenient to the operation or development of the district’s ports and waterways. It may acquisition land for the purposes included in this section and the operation and industrial and business development of ports and waterways are a public purpose and a matter of public necessity.
STORM and CLCND cite Texas Water Code §61.111 in their claim to manage the resources. The conflict between the CLCND and Texas Parks and Wildlife is the latest in a series of fierce legal and political battles in Texas over who controls land covered by water. Photo: Jeri’s Seafood/Facebook
In addition it has the right to suppress and prevent nuisances, pollution and improper disposal of materials on any district property to protect other district property or to promote the health, safety and general welfare of persons using district property.
The conflict between the CLCND and Texas Parks and Wildlife is the latest in a series of fierce legal and political battles in Texas over who controls land covered by water, with property owners having already won court cases granting them rights to submerged land in the Gulf of Mexico.
Funded through sale of water to rice farmers and municipalities, as well as from navigation assessments, the Chamber-Liberty Counties Navigation District receives no compensation from state and federal governments according to its staff.
STORM documents state the purpose of the Navigation District’s lease with the organization is to use, create, manage, possess, cultivate and control its oyster beds. The lease extends control of seeding, cultivation, depuration and the commercial harvest of oysters for human consumption. It further charges STORM with pollution abatement within the lease and encourages aquaculture development, promotion of commercial fishing and marine commerce with protection against others taking or harming the oyster or the oyster beds.
According to STORM, its goal is to restore thousands of acres of oyster reefs to Galveston Bay by planting shell, rock or other suitable substrate on the bottoms that have been destroyed by hurricanes, drought and overharvesting.
Portrayed by opponents as a perpetrator of an offshore land grab of historic proportion, Woody told Gulf Seafood News that STORM has been a target of “fear mongering propaganda”. “We entered this lease agreement to save our family’s livelihood, as well as improve the quality of the oyster habitat in Galveston Bay so all fishermen benefit. We are determined to let the court decide the legality of the lease.”
Stirring Up Controversy
Chambers-Liberty County Navigation District Boundaries mapped in green. Map: Texas Parks and Wildlife Department
In a resolution recently passed by the Galveston County Commission Court, commissioners unanimously rejected any attempt to amend or alter existing state laws related to the use of waterways, water bottoms, or natural resources for commercial, recreational or private harvesting and fishing.
A signed document stated their resolve against any effort to amend or alter existing laws for the purpose of negating or diminishing the authority of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department to oversee all commercial, recreational and private harvesting and fishing of natural resources are rejected.
“I fear for the future of all fishermen who have made a living for centuries working Galveston bay,” said Raz Halili, a third generation oyster fishermen in the bay whose family’s company is a member of Concerned Citizens. Photo: Prestige Oyster/Facebook
In a joint letter to STORM’s management, U.S. Congressmen Randy Weber and former Congressmen Steve Stockman of Texas stated that CLCND’s ownership of submerged land is subject to the limitations of its enabling authority and its specific purpose as defined by the Texas legislature. It reminded the organization that any interference with existing laws could result in fines and legal action.
Concerned Citizens of Texas Gulf Coast, an organization founded by other Galveston Bay oyster harvesters, has launched a website portraying STORM’s lease as a “land grab”. It seeks signatures on a petition in support of the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department and the Texas General Land Office’s continued defense of the rights of fishermen, harvesters, oyster leaseholders and the State to own, maintain, and control the its water bottoms and natural resources.
“I fear for the future of all fishermen who have made a living for centuries working Galveston bay,” said Raz Halili of Prestige Oysters, a second generation oyster fisherman in the bay whose family’s company is a member of Concerned Citizens. “This is a theft of a public resource. No organization should control that which is a state natural resource, it is morally and ethically wrong to attempt such idea.”
In a letter to STORM’s management, U.S. Congressman Randy Weber stated that CLCND’s ownership of submerged land is subject to the limitations of its enabling authority and its specific purpose as defined by the Texas legislature. Photo: U.S. House of Representatives
Current leaseholders continue to harvest oysters. STORM has sent one “No Trespassing” notice to a commercial operator in Galveston Bay and is not backing down from a legal fight. It has also approached other navigation districts within the State that currently own bay bottomland.
Processors across the Gulf Coast depend upon a steady supply of the Texas oysters. The already tight supply of Gulf oysters caused by drought and environmental conditions has driven prices to record highs. With the State’s public oyster beds becoming less and less productive, harvesters will continue to seek other options for more productive and environmentally friendly beds for the bivalve mollusks. A bottomland turf war between State and Navigation Districts could fuel even higher oyster prices and a tighter supply across the Gulf, as well as nationwide.
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