By: Emma Comery Photos By: Lillian Reitz
Even at 4:00 on a Monday afternoon, the Water Street OysterbrBar buzzes with the thrill of leaving the office and the promise ofbrmouth-watering fresh seafood. Plates of mesquite-grilled salmon, shrimpbrharpoons, and fried calamari drift seductively by as I find my way to the tablebrwhere Richard Lomax, the President and CEO of the Water Street Restaurants,brwelcomes me with a handshake and a smile. We are joined by Dr. Joe Fox,brprofessor of Mariculture, Environmental Science, and Coastal & MarinebrSystem Science at Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi.
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Richard orders a half dozen half shell oysters for thebrtable, and between bites, the two men share with me the story of the verybrcreatures we are eating. Specifically, the story of how Dr. Fox and Richard’sbrfather, Brad Lomax, are leading the charge to save the Gulf Coast oyster.
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Wait. The oysters arebrin danger?
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Yes, not endangered, but in danger. This is news to me,br(though it doesn’t stop me from tossing back an oyster like a little shot ofbrmollusk-y goodness).
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Richard walks me through Texas’ oyster history. The worldbrhas changed a lot in the past 100 years, but the technology for harvestingbroysters is the same that it was at the turn of the 20th century: take a bigbrbucket and drag it along the bottom of the bay. While this is certainly anbreffective method for dredging up oysters, the process also demolishes thebrentire reef. “It’s like mowing your lawn with a bulldozer,” Dr. Fox commentsbrwryly.
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Case in point: In January 2016, South Dollar Reef inbrGalveston was harvested for oysters. It took one million dollars to build thebrmile-long reef … and three days for 20 boats to fish it out completely. In thebrend, they had $300,000 worth of oysters and one completely demolished reef. Abrnet loss. Sadly, this is not a unique case, but rather the everyday reality ofbroyster harvesting all along the Texas coast.
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Years of such aggressive harvesting and archaic methods havebrleft the Texas Gulf Coast hurting for wild oysters. In fact, the reef area forbroysters in Texas has decreased by 80 percent since Texas’ oyster heyday in thebr1900s. “All you have to do,” says Dr. Fox, “is look at the bag limits.” Oncebrupon a time, the daily bag limit for oysters was 100 sacks; today it’s down tobr50. “There’s just nothing out there.”
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This explains why, in recent years, oyster fishermen,brvendors, and restaurants have been scrambling to find good local product. Sure,brthere’s always the option of flying oysters in from another state, but this isbrthe Gulf Coast! From Galveston to Corpus Christi, we have a long and storiedbrlegacy of seafood to protect. And, luckily, Corpus has its top people on thebrjob. In 2009, the Harte Research Institute’s Gail Sutton (a former student ofbrDr. Fox), developed a long-term program to combat reef destruction. “Sink YourbrShucks” is the first oyster shell recycling program in the Coastal Bend, andbrthe first program in Texas to reclaim more than 1,000,000 pounds of shuckedbroyster shells from local restaurants and wholesalers, and return them to thebrbays. Essentially, the recycled shells seed the waters for new reefs bybrproviding substrates and forming nutrient-rich habitats for fish, crabs, andbrother organisms, including young oysters, which attach to the recycled shellsbrof their mollusk brethren and grow in abundance.
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As a restaurant owner, “Sink Your Shucks” was the answer tobrBrad Lomax’s prayers. “My dad had a simple business problem,” Richard explains.br“He was spending a ton of money throwing away oysters and dealing with thebrmess. When we started recycling, our dumpster bills went down by 60 percent.”
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Not only has Water Street been recycling its oyster shellsbrwith HRI ever since, but the program inspired both Brad and Richard Lomax tobrteam up with Sutton and Dr. Fox on another project: legalizing oyster farmingbrin Texas.
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Oyster farming, which can be done either by building a bedbror suspending net bags above the ground, has been a game-changer in otherbrstates where wild oysters have been overharvested. In fact, Texas is the onlybroyster fishing state that has not legalized oyster farming.
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“It goes back to the State of Texas and the state agencies,”brexplains Dr. Fox. “Most have the attitude that oysters are a natural resourcebrto be enjoyed and harvested by the citizens of the state … they’ve tried tobrmaintain [the water bottom and reefs] as an available natural resource. It’sbrnot that they’re against [oyster farming], they just want to know more aboutbrit. There’s no legal framework that allows you to do it.”
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“One of the greatest reasons for promoting oyster farming,”brhe elaborates, “is to give the reefs a break.” Simply put, the oyster industrybris not sustainable without incorporating farming. By lessening our reliance onbrnatural reefs, we can give them the much-needed opportunity to grow andbrrevitalize, thereby improving their long-term health and yield potential.brTruly, it’s in our best interest to treat these reefs well, especially sincebrthey provide invaluable ecosystem services that clean up the bays andbrestuaries. The average acre of reef provides $30,000 in ecosystem services thatbrwe would otherwise need to provide ourselves. Allowing the natural reefs tobrrebuild would go a long way toward adding that extra sparkle to the “Sparkling City by the Sea.”
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The other big reason to legalize oyster farming is increasedbrproduction and industry expansion. “We have about a million and a half acres ofbrwater along our Texas coast in bays and estuaries,” says Dr. Fox. “About halfbrof that is probably reasonable for oyster aquaculture. For oyster aquaculturebrto double production in the state, we only need 2,000 acres.”
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Doubling production would open up the market, offer vendorsbrand restaurants more options, create jobs (wild oyster farming requires daysbrout on the boat; oyster farmers are home for dinner every night), and restorebrthe Texas Gulf Coast’s reputation for unparalleled seafood. Farming also offersbrcontrol over oyster shape and size, which helps create a better product for thebrconsumer. “The industry has gotten too conglomerated,” Richard Lomax says. “Webrwant to encourage more boutique players.”
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It wouldn’t take long. In the wild, it can take seven tobreight years for a reef to produce oysters. In an oyster farm, it only takesbreight months to get an oyster from seed to market. “We have a competitivebradvantage with the heat: Hot bays grow oysters fast,” Richard Lomax points out.br“We can actually grow oysters twice as fast as the east coast.”
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“There’s also the ecotourism aspect,” he adds. “Visit CorpusbrChristi has been a big supporter, and they think the idea has legs. Plus, Ibrthink it’s my dad’s dream to give tours of the oyster farms and show kids howbrit gets from seed to something you can eat.”
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The story they tell me is the nutshell version of the casebrDr. Fox, Brad Lomax, and Gail Sutton spent years presenting to countlessbrfishermen, judges, wildlife organizations, grant committees, potential oysterbrfarmers, and local representatives in a years-long effort to garner support forbrthe beleaguered mollusk. That dedication paid off when big-league supportersbrlike the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department and the Coastal ConservationbrAssociation jumped on board. Dr. Fox believes the success of oyster farming inbrother states and the growing body of information on aquaculture also encouragedbrstate agencies to support the project.
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In July 2018, Representative Todd Hunter began collaboratingbrwith the team to draft legislation, and this past May, the Senate passed SB 682bralmost unanimously, legalizing oyster farming in Texas. Now, all that’s left tobrdo is hammer out the rules and regulations for oyster farming, a conversationbrthat will be driven mostly by the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department. Theybrexpect the first farms to start seeding in the fall of 2020.
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“We’ve had research scientists, academics, politicians, andbrregulatory organizations working together with a common cause,” says Sutton inbra closing thought. And soon, everyone from residents to tourists will be ablebrto enjoy the benefits of the oyster cause. “From creating jobs to boosting thebreconomy, saving fisheries to improving water quality, there’s something in thisbrfor everyone,” Sutton underlines. “Even someone who just wants to eat an oysterbron a cracker.”
