New Texas oyster season brings apprehension

GALVESTON, Texas - November brings the start of the Texas oyster season, and several challenging years have left the multi-million-dollar commercial industry in a difficult spot. Last year's six-month season was cut short after six weeks as the once-abundant catch in public Texas waters is getting harder to find.

On a windy and choppy Galveston Bay at sunrise on November 1, the first basket of oysters should bring optimism, but now brings apprehension. A reef area, just northeast of San Leon, is one of four open on the bay, while five other Galveston Bay areas remain closed by the state. At one point, 40 boats crowded around looking to take advantage of what was there.

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In a press release, ahead of the season's start, Texas Parks & Wildlife said, in part, "Unfortunately, conditions through the summer were not as good for oyster growth as we would have liked."

It's been a year since the public waters were last harvested. As the Prestige Oysters crew, aboard the Hustler, dredges the bottom, nine feet below, the oystermen sift through the shells with practiced eyes to find the ones worth keeping, while tossing the rest back to grow some more. The goal is about three thousand pounds, or 30 bags worth, of the shellfish delicacy.

After the first hour of the first day, there's not a tremendous amount of optimism on board. Many of the oysters are still a little small, and there's only five bags filled when normally there would be a lot more. And looking to nearby boats, doing the same thing, they're not doing much better.

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Raz Halili helps run the family-owned Prestige Oysters, "You always anticipate opening day; it's always fun and a lot of energy going around, but today's a little bit bleak."

Back at the docks, the Hustler crew was able to collect it's 30-bag limit after six hours of harvesting. That's much longer than normal. Halili says he's encouraged that there's a good mix of young and mature oysters on the bay, but believes the state should reevaluate who fishes where, and by how much, before this new season comes to another abrupt end. 

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"We need to look at ways to spread the fleet across the Texas coastline, and that involves opening additional areas and looking at the threshold of how they open and close areas," he says.

This year's season started with just eight of the state's 28 oyster areas open for fishing. Several members of the oyster industry asked the state to delay the season to give the crop more time to grow and maybe open more areas. The state said there was enough to proceed. Without a change, oystermen fear last year's short season will only be shorter this time.

Here's 10 things you probably didn't know about oysters, according to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation: 

1. Oysters have been around for approximately 15 million years.
2. An oyster becomes an adult when it turns one year old and can live as long as 20 years.
3. Oysters can change their sex. In fact, they will often do it more than once.
4. Juvenile oysters are called spat.
5. Oysters breathe like fish—yes, they have gills.
6. Oysters are vegetarians. They eat algae by filtering it out of the water.
7. A single adult oyster can filter up to 50 gallons of water a day. That's about as much water as you use in a 10-minute shower.
8. As oyster generations settle on one another and grow, they form reefs that provide shelter for other animals, like fish and crabs.
9. A raw oyster may still be alive as you eat it. No really—if you're at a raw bar and someone shucks you a fresh oyster, it's likely still alive. Give it a poke with a fork next time to see if it moves.
10. Oyster shells are recyclable. You can return your shells at several drop off locations around the Bay, and they'll be reused to help grow juvenile oysters.