วันจันทร์ที่ 1 ธันวาคม พ.ศ. 2551

More than 2 months after Ike, oysters take shellacking


At least 60 percent of the crop in Galveston Bay is destroyed, and it will take years and a lot of cash to make things right again
By CINDY HORSWELL
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle

When fishermen drag the bottom of Galveston Bay, they are harvesting more than oysters these days. They may snag lumber, a water heater or possibly a television.

Yet even when the fishermen manage to avoid the junk, they're not scooping up the mountains of fresh oysters they are accustomed to seeing.

State authorities estimate at least 60 percent of the oyster crop has been killed. They blame Hurricane Ike's surge on Sept. 13 for burying critical shell reefs where oysters have grown for centuries.

"More and more oysters are dying every day," said Ben Nelson, who at age 70 has operated a large oyster house in Smith Point in southern Chambers County for more than three decades.

Damage to this bay, he said, also will be felt at the dinner table. That's because Galveston Bay usually produces 80 percent of the oysters harvested in Texas, or 3 million pounds worth about $10 million.

In fact, Texas and Louisiana supply 60 percent of the oysters nationwide that customers, especially on the East Coast, pry open and fry or eat raw on the half shell.

Ike's damage was much worse than the destruction caused by Hurricane Alicia in 1983, "or any other hurricane that I've seen," Nelson said.

Lisa Halili, owner of another large oyster house in San Leon south of Kemah in Galveston County, agreed.

"When oysters stay buried so long, they will die. Our oyster production is down 70 to 80 percent from what we used to get. We need to get the debris and silt off these reefs."

At the same time, she and others in her industry are trying to rebuild after suffering catastrophic damage to their boats, docks and buildings.

Ike was by far the worst storm on record for the oyster industry in Galveston Bay, said Lance Robinson, Texas Parks and Wildlife's regional director for coastal fisheries.

Based on a survey of the oyster reefs, this year's crop should be much smaller, Robinson said.


Sediment problem
After oysters spawn, the larvae must cement to a hard surface before they can metamorphose into an oyster. The reefs made from stacks of old oyster shells would normally provide the perfect breeding ground — except that sonar showed the reefs were covered with soft sediment.

"We know some other reefs that were silted over 30 years ago, and they have still not come back in all this time. So it's unlikely these newly damaged reefs will come back without intervention," Robinson said.

Two methods could be used to do it: Pay fishermen to use their commercial oyster boats to rake across the reefs and pull shells out of the sediment to the surface, or use barges to dump new material such as crushed concrete or oyster shells onto the reefs. This also would provide the hard surface needed for them to reproduce.

But whatever is done will require money the state doesn't have.

"For instance, to cover the major reefs (about 8,000 acres) with 6 inches of new material would cost about $320 million. And that does not count the repair of 11,000 additional acres of small oyster clumps, Robinson said.

Besides the sediment problem, the state is looking for money to remove the other junk that now litters the bottom of the bay. For instance, the state has identified 301 boats that sank in the bay. The boats range in size from 16-foot pleasure crafts to giant barges.

Greg Polluck, a deputy commissioner with the Texas General Land Office, estimates that removing the boats alone will cost $20 million. Then another $368 million will be needed to extract debris from thousands of homes that washed into the bay, he said.

"We are talking to FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) and will be going to the Texas Legislature about this in January," he said.


FEMA funds
The state must pay for the work and then submit its bills to FEMA for reimbursement of 75 percent of the costs.

FEMA spokesman Simon Chabel said debris removal generally would be covered, but reef restoration is "not a frequently reimbursed expense."

Lisa Halili, the owner of Prestige Oysters, said her marina is blocked from sunken boats, and even when a boat can reach the reefs, there is no telling what will be found there.

"One fishing area is covered with all kinds of debris and sand, and another with grass and mud," she said.

The recovery could take years. Even after the reefs have been cleared, it will take at least two years for an oyster to grow to marketable size, which is 3 inches in diameter, authorities said.

Not only will consumers lose a valuable food source if the oyster reefs aren't restored, but the ecology of the bay will be hurt, Robinson said. "Oysters are filter feeders and critical for improving water quality. Even their reefs serve as important breakwaters to protect from erosion," he said.


Season 4 weeks late
Fishermen have seen the destruction to the private oyster reefs since the storm, but did not get a look at the public reefs until Wednesday.

Oyster season, which usually starts Nov. 1 and runs through April, began four weeks late. The state needed time to fix 62 markers knocked down by Ike that identify approved fishing areas.

But W.F. Childress, who has operated an oyster business near Smith Point for 30 years, won't be putting the few boats he has left back in the water again. He is quitting the business.

"Been looking for that bad storm for years, but had always lucked out before this," he said. He pointed to one boat, Miss Tammy, that the storm lifted from the water and then crashed onto pilings that pierced it like a marshmallow on a stick.

"I had tried to get storm and flood insurance but it cost more than my business was worth," he said.

Yet others, such as Nelson and Halili, are not ready to give up.

"The strong will survive," Nelson said.

At the same time, Halili is being forced to operate from a competitor's oyster house until hers is rebuilt.

"It will be a long road back. It could be like this for God knows how long — unless we get some funding," she said.

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