Oyster Problems

By Jene' Young Meteorologist

A natural predator, Hurricanes, and a drought are taking their toll on local oysters. Oyster Problems

Published: Wed, February 06, 2008 - 5:59 pm

Jene' Young

If you enjoy our fresh Gulf Coast seafood, listen up! Oysters are having a tough time surviving natural hazards.
Avery Bates, Vice President of Organized Seafood Association of Alabama says he has never seen anything like this.
"When you see local people having to go somewhere else to get oysters, you know there's a problem. In 40 years on the water, as far as making a livelihood, I've never seen quite the disaster we've seen. It's a catastrophic failure of our shellfish industry."

Scott Rikard, Natural Resources Program Advisor with Auburn University's Shellfish Lab says pinpointing the problem is not so simple.
"We've had Hurricanes Ivan and Katrina which did significant damage to the reefs, but the reefs seemed to be recovering and doing well. But you follow that up with two years of drought conditions and oyster drills moving in, the oyster reef population has taken a significant hit, and it's very hard for the oystermen to make a living right now."

Hurricane Katrina opened up a wide section of Dauphin Island's West End. Bates says, "that has let billions of gallons of water, extra salty water into the brackish water." Which has paved the path for oyster drills to move in.
Oyster drills are a snail like conch. Rikard says they can eat over 3000 plus oysters in their lifetime.

Bates also adds, "Now when you cross the Bridge, they say, where are the oystermen? The oystermen, because of the drought, had his crop eaten by a natural predator, the oyster drill.
The loss of oysters has a ripple effect.
"We are losing a workforce. At one time years ago, we had 50-55 oyster shops. Now we're down to 43 oyster shops. People having to close their doors cause the product is now there."

The oyster drills will eventually die and move out once enough fresh water comes down Mobile Bay. But the oyster population may take years to recover.