Texas
An average consumer in the U.S. spends a $1.50 to eat approximately a third of a pound of oysters a year according to a calculation in a recently released video by Dr. Ben Posadas, an associate extension research professor at Mississippi State University. With no available official estimates on oyster per capita consumption, Dr. Posada arrived at his estimate by dividing total oyster supply or expenditures by the current population.
Grand Isle aquaculture oysterman Scott Mauer can attest that even the best-laid plans to avoid disaster often go astray. As Hurricane Ida approached Louisiana, his seed-oyster business partner Steve Pollock and him evacuated more than 10-million larva to Texas A&M University, and stored another 20-million at the LSU Sea Grant hatchery on the island. Ida managed to take out those at the hatchery and those in Texas died from unknown causes.
After protest by oystermen and the public, the Texas Parks and Wildlife has delayed a vote on the proposed closure of three oyster bays for harvesting. The three bays are Carlos Bay, Mesquite Bay and Ayres Bay near Rockport. State biologists had warned harvesting in those areas has increased over the past decade and reefs have shown a low abundance of oysters relative to neighboring bays.
Permanent and temporary closures of oyster harvesting areas by the Texas Department of Parks and Wildlife (TDPW) have brought protests by oyster fishermen and contributing to the shortage of Gulf oysters, as well as high prices. The department said the move was due to a variety of environmental concerns.
The annual Oyster South industry symposium isn’t a typical scientific conference. Besides being filled with relevant information on oyster aquaculture, it is also fun. The organization, a charitable foundation supporting shellfish aquaculture in the southern U.S., has members ranging from growers, chefs, wholesalers, gear suppliers, students and food writers.
The National Seafood Council Task Force has released a report highlighting pathways to funding for a National Seafood Marketing Campaign and governing structure considerations for the National Seafood Council.
Gulf Fishing Family Hurting After Hurricane Laura Destroys Cameron, Wrecks Havoc on Surrounding Area
The Gulf fishing fleet docked at or near Cameron, LA bore the brunt of Hurricane Laura as it roared ashore in the early hours of August 27th as a category four storm. The Gulf Seafood Foundation is calling upon government officials in Louisiana, Texas and Mississippi for an immediate coordinated seafood specific disaster relief effort for fishermen, seafood processors and the extended seafood family.
A recent executive order on Promoting American Seafood Competitiveness and Economic Growth potentially broadens markets for the Gulf seafood industry, as well as stirred controversy within the its seafood community.
Can you imagine no oyster bars crowded with patrons eyeing shuckers opening one perfect Gulf oyster after another? No music crowds pressed shoulder to shoulder in Austin venues. No crowded Bourbon Street restaurants overflowing with locals and tourists. There is a new norm coming to the Gulf and the country, and life will be different.
Prestige Oysters, one of the largest producers of Gulf oysters, has achieved the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification for its private oyster fisheries in Texas and Louisiana, making it the first wild oyster fishery in the Americas to be recognized for sustainable fishing practices. Sustainable fishing practices are vital to the protection of both the environment and consumers of Gulf of Mexico seafood.
The billion dollar question haunting the Gulf seafood industry, as well as fisheries across the U.S, is how domestic seafood can compete with imports when fish in the freezers or on the counters of almost every grocery store, and in the kitchen of almost every restaurant, comes from another country? Countries that often fail to impose any semblance of quality control or inspections.
As a result of record flooding in the central United States, the gates of the Morganza Spillway are set to send fresh water into a fragile ecosystem that is home to a wide variety of Gulf seafood. Louisiana Lt. Governor Billy Nungesser, the Gulf Seafood Foundation and other Gulf-wide organizations are calling for Gulf State governors to make a coordinated request of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to declare a state of emergency existing specific to Gulf seafood and its related industries.
A storm that brewed in Galveston Bay for the past four-years over the ownership of Texas oyster production rights has finally subsided. A Texas Supreme Court ruling and new legislation has effectively shuddered the Chamber-Liberty Counties Navigation District (CLCND) claim to lease submerged bottomland to Sustainable Texas Oyster Resource Management (STORM) for the purpose of growing oysters.
The Gulf Seafood Foundation has announced a new slate of officers for 2019. Former Sysco Louisiana Seafood chairman Jim Gossen, a native of Lafayette, LA living in Houston, TX, will remain as the President of the organization formed to support and promote the high standards of the Gulf’s vast commercial and recreational fisheries industry.
Alabama’s Beth Walton, Executive Director of Oyster South, and Father Sinclair Oubre, a Catholic Diocesan priest and Treasurer of the Port Arthur (Texas) Area Shrimpers Association, have joined the Gulf Seafood Foundation’s Board of Directors.
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