Gulf Coast storms have endangered the local oyster harvest

Texas oysters really can’t catch a break.

Oysters are delicate creatures. Reefs act like huge filters, removing all kinds of stuff from the waters, but they have to live in brackish water. If the waters are too salty, oysters become vulnerable to parasites which kill them. If the waters are not salty enough, they are invaded by bacteria which can also kill them.

So the storms that have ravaged Bayou City and the entire state in recent weeks have brought more problems. In addition to toppling power lines, toppling trees and flooding homes, the regular violent storms that roll through the state have also sent a glut of fresh water into Galveston Bay and other waters along from the coast, decimating the oyster reefs, another blow to the reefs, and to the legendary industry that revolves around them.

Texas oysters — and the people who harvest them in Galveston Bay and the waters that stretch along the rest of the Lone Star State’s coast — were already having a bad year, which fishermen who trawl on public reefs from November 1 to 1 each year. April 30 must be more and more usual.

For more than a decade, bad years have been a regular occurrence, with Texas plagued by increasingly intense storms and droughts that last for months or even years.

In 2008, Hurricane Ike dumped tons of silt on the reefs of East Galveston Bay, one of the largest sections of oyster reef on the coast. Since then, droughts have caused salinity levels in the bays to rise, making oysters vulnerable to parasites, while freshwater sprays from Hurricane Harvey and every other very large storm have left the waters without sufficient of salt, leaving the oysters vulnerable to bacteria.

Result: some reefs were almost wiped out, as we have already noted. Texas Parks and Wildlife, the state department responsible for monitoring public reefs, has regularly closed public reefs when it found that oysters were either too small or too few in number to harvest. The start of the last season in November was no exception, with the state opening only one section to public harvest.

On top of that, fishermen who managed to secure oyster reef leases – leases that allow them to harvest in specific areas outside of the annual public season – got another surprise. In early May, even before the full onslaught of fresh water hit the bay system, there was already enough fresh water to set off alarm bells, leading the health department of the Texas Department of State to close all of Galveston Bay.

And all this happened before the North Texas floods sent fresh water into the Trinity, and before the waterways of San Jacinto and other areas around Houston overflowed their banks , followed by Storm Derecho.

The reefs along our part of the Gulf Coast have just been flooded. In Galveston Bay alone, officials are reporting near 100 percent mortality, leading Galveston County Judge Mark Henry to issue a disaster declaration last week in an effort to tap the funds federal funds to help support the industry. They estimate Galveston County will lose about $15 million from the storm, Henry said, noting the industry brings in about $30 million a year.

“Galveston and Chambers counties are facing an unprecedented crisis that threatens the livelihoods of many families and businesses,” State Rep. Terri Leo Wilson, of Galveston, said in a statement. Wilson followed up on Henry’s statement by calling on Gov. Greg Abbott to declare a state of disaster for Galveston and Chambers counties.

If Abbott grants this request, it will also allow local officials to tap into state funds to help reefs and industry recover. Considering this all happened before what meteorologists say could be an “active” hurricane season, it’s definitely a good idea for Wilson to ask now.