TX - Fear and worry shadow Texas oyster fishermen as another season begins with few reefs open
Despite fishermen’s wishes to delay the season in hopes that oyster reefs recover from years of environmental stress, the state pushed ahead with a Nov. 1 start.
TEXAS CITY — The dreary, gray weather on Monday matched oysterman Johny Jurisich’s mood. This time of year, when workers prepare boats ahead of the Nov. 1 start to Texas’ oyster season, used to feel exciting. Now, it felt muted as the industry faced an uncertain future.
Fishermen weren’t playing music, smiling or coating boats with fresh paint. None of them knew if they would make money in the coming weeks.
“They love doing it; that’s why they’re here,” Jurisich said, standing by the docks he owns with his dad and brother. “But it’s hard to love anymore, because it’s just heartbreak.”
Texas oysters have suffered from stronger storms and worsening droughts as the effects of climate change intensify. The state has increasingly closed public harvest areas where it considers oysters too small or too scarce, in an effort to protect them. Last year, the state opened only a small portion of the public reefs. Fishermen crowded into the available areas, catching what they could over a shortened season, then turned to other jobs to pay the bills.
Still, the oysters didn’t recover. When state biologists sampled the public reefs in September and early October, they found enough large oysters to allow harvesting in just one area.
“Unfortunately, we're seeing kind of a similar season to what we saw last year where most bays still have very low abundances of oysters,” said Christine Jensen, Galveston Bay ecosystem team leader for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
The future of the fishery hinges on the success of these temporary closures — a strategy many fishermen argue should be changed — along with attempts by the agency, environmental groups and fishermen to restore the reefs.
Oysters play a critical role in the environment, improving water quality, buffering shorelines against storms and providing habitat for other marine animals. They’re also crucial to the nation’s wild oyster industry: Gulf oysters accounted for 45% of harvested oysters in the country in 2019, according to a federal report.
Boat captains are struggling. When the season in Texas abruptly ended last year, 39-year-old San Leon resident Agustin Martinez harvested oysters in Louisiana, worked a construction job in North Carolina and returned home this year to work at a metal recycling facility. He still came up short.
“I'm stressed,” Martinez said, speaking in Spanish. “We have to pay licenses and fix boats. It is an investment that we have to make if the oyster fishing areas open or not.”
