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Oyster vinaigrette is safe this year.
Since the Deepwater Horizon spill in 2010, an estimated 4 to 8.3 billion subsea oysters have been lost on the Gulf Coast. Many states are in trouble.
Louisiana is the only state to produce a level equal to or greater than that before the spill, according to Seth Blitch, director of coastal and marine conservation at The Nature Conservancy in Louisiana.
"Gulfwide oysters are kind of in a bad position, but Louisiana is actually a kind of positive point in terms of commercial oyster production." Louisiana produces more oysters than any other state in the world. country, which is good, "said Blitch.
TNC recently released a report on oyster restoration in the Gulf.
According to the report, there has been about 50 to 85% of oyster losses in the Gulf compared to historical levels.
The oyster industry draws about $ 220 million in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. The decrease could affect not only oyster farmers, but also restaurants and industries that use the shell, particularly to supplement the chicken's diet.
The Gulf produces more oysters than anywhere else in the United States, but restoration and maintenance of production presents challenges, including:
– changes in the flow of fresh water along the Gulf,
– sedimentation of more frequent storms,
– incoherent replacement of the oyster litter, called "cultch", and
– heavy fishing.
Earlier in November, the state of Alabama had announced that there would be no oyster harvest in the state waters because of 39, a lack of supply.
Scott Bannon, director of the marine resources division of the Alabama Conservation Agency, said that a season of one week in 2017 would have produced 136 bags of oysters , according to a report from the Associated Press agency. In 2013, 7,000 bags were harvested, said Bannon.
"They felt that they could not open it and that oysters could survive," Blitch said.
He pointed to the Apalachicola Bay in Florida Bay, a bay that once produced 90% of Florida oysters and about 10% of those in the country.
"But that's no longer the case," says Blitch. Times have been tough for four or five years. "
The Mississippi, he said, produced about 20,000 bags of oysters last year. Fifteen years ago, the state produced nearly half a million bags in one season.
In Texas, TNC is launching two oyster reef restoration projects: a 60-acre reef restoration project in Copano Bay and another for a 50-acre reef in Galveston Bay. Half of each of them will be designated as marine sanctuary and the other half will be available for harvest and open to commercial fishing.
"Louisiana is unique in that most of the oysters we produce come from private commercial leases, which means that individuals or businesses rent out land – from coastal lands – to the state, and that they do not. they will then, at their expense, put materials on the bottom of this site, "said Blitch.
Oysters tend to live in estuaries where there is a mixture of salt water and fresh water. Oyster larvae attach themselves as rocks or shells and grow until harvest.
"Ideally, it's a shell because oysters grow on top of each other … But shells are rare," Blitch said. Restaurants will put them in landfills and record companies will sell them as part of the chicken feed or other supply options. "There is an economic interest in keeping it and selling it."
"More than 90% of Louisiana's production comes from these leases.Although there are public areas that you can also harvest, most of it comes from leases," Blitch said.
Blitch said that there are many things possible when reefs are worth more than shellfish and meat. Oysters contribute to the habitat of other animals and protect the land masses from erosion.
Oysters filter water for food and help maintain and improve the quality of water.
"Plus, they are a delicious treat too, and they are the livelihood of many people who harvest seafood," said Blitch.
Polarized views may lead to oyster beds being considered a habitat or a fishery, he said.
"My point of view, and this report is to suggest, that it should not be a situation ./ Things are related, they are causal." We have a mutual interest in having a really healthy oyster industry, industry but also the valuation of the habitat for these other things, "he said.
An integrated approach can benefit both. It can be difficult to manage oyster resources, but there are ways to work together to recover them, said Blitch.
Louisiana has an excellent form of oysters as a fishery, but in terms of habitat "less," Blitch said.
After the oil spill, about $ 160 million is available in all five states for oyster restoration, he said. But there are not many examples of what reefs looked like a century ago.
That's true everywhere, he says. Various problems can contribute to the decline of the population.
On the Louisiana concessions, people bring in equipment and grow reefs that seem to grow, but they are harvested, so it's impermanent.
It's not about making the difference between harvesting and restoring, Blitch said. The reefs help the habitat as long as they exist.
"(Oysters) are a very good indicator of what is happening in coastal systems because they are both a habitat and a fishery, and they are a good indicator of the health of ecosystems. are just arousing a lot of passion in people, "said Blitch.
A lake in Louisiana is an example of what an untapped reef can do for the surrounding area.
Sabine Lake, located on the border between Louisiana and Texas, has not been commercially exploited since 1966. Pollution of the point source of pollution posed water quality problems, Blitch said. .
The Clean Water Act defines point source pollution as a "perceptible, confined and unobtrusive means of transportation", such as a pipe, well or container.
"Because oysters filter water, you can not extract oysters from water with pollution problems and sell them to people, so they've been closed for a long time," said Blitch.
A few years ago, the Food and Drug Administration found that the water was now clean and that oysters could be safely consumed, but the law still prohibited this closure.
It is estimated that about one million bags of oysters are found in the Sabine Lake Reef, "which is huge," Blitch said.
Some wanted to harvest it and others said the reef was a natural infrastructure.
The oyster reefs grow vertically and come out of the water, said Blitch. Because of this, they provide a natural barrier against wave energy. The land adjacent to the reef showed less erosion than in other areas along the lake.
It has also acted as a physical barrier to water with more salt and protected bog plants.
About a third of the reef is on the Texas side. This state sees the oyster reef as an asset for sport fishing. Much of the record trout and redfish are caught on the reef, and they do not harvest oysters.
Earlier this year, the Legislative Assembly of Louisiana banned any oyster harvest on the lake.
There are different ways to restore the reefs, and they do not necessarily prohibit harvesting. Goals can work together, said Blitch.
The Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Department has a Reef Management Authority. They make "plantations", which involves creating a culture for a reef.
In the past eight years, Blitch has lived in Louisiana and TNC has launched about six linear miles of reef projects. They include shell-filled reinforcement cages for prefabricating concrete circles. Recently, in Lake Calcasieu, TNC has poured wire baskets filled with rocks and shells into an area of coastal erosion.
"If you put them in the right places, many marine species reproduce by spawning, they become part of the plankton and then they want to attach to something, attach to it and grow, like corals, he said.
The right substrate in the right place is the way concessions and reefs are managed.
TNC wants its projects to continue to serve as a reef. They do not necessarily want the harvest to be done directly, but they often approach leases. The Lake Calcasieu project is a public seed.
"When we grow oysters, they breed, and they will put their spat, or oyster babies, on immediately adjacent areas, where you can harvest, which is kind of a link to the fishery where the restoration can help the commercial side of oyster reefs, "Blitch said.
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