Everybody who has ever had the pleasure of eating a Christmas Bay oyster please take the time to contact your state Rep and Lance Robinson with TPWD. Let them know you do not want this treasure to be closed to the harvest of oysters. There are no other oysters like it in the State and maybe in the nation. The problem I have with the big buyers like Halili, Misho and others is they have private oyster leases. Every square inch of public reef closed just makes their "private" leases more valuable.
So heck yes they want it closed. If it is closed nobody will ever eat another oyster from this bay and a true treasure will be lost.
It won't just be closed to commercial harvest it will be closed to everyone.
This from the Galveston Daily News:
Oyster companies urge state to close a bay amid uproar over conditions
Galveston Daily News:
http://www.galvnews.com/news/article_e36213af-271c-5e3c-bfce-7e2ac50c4fcd.ht
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April 11, 2017
A group of major Texas oyster companies and a coastal advocacy group are
urging the state to close a small bay in Brazoria County amid uproar there
over oyster harvesting.
The Texas Outdoor Coastal Council, a nonprofit focused on coastal issues, is
gathering signatures for a petition asking the Texas Parks and Wildlife
Director of Coastal Fisheries to immediately halt oyster harvesting in
Christmas Bay, according to a letter obtained by The Daily News.
Several of the Gulf's largest oyster companies have signed onto the
petition. Those include Prestige Oysters, Hillman Shrimp and Seafood Co.,
Casterline Seafood Co. and Misho's Oyster Co., according to a list provided
by the group.
Texas Parks and Wildlife Department considers bacteria conditions and the
maturity and quantity of oysters in an area when determining whether to keep
it open, said Lance Robinson, Coastal Fisheries regional director at Texas
Parks and Wildlife.
Christmas Bay, near Surfside, was closed to oyster harvesting between 2000
and 2014 because of high levels of bacteria, according to the state health
department. The health department reopened the bay to oystering beginning in
the 2015 season, a spokesman said.
Oyster industry leaders are calling for a renewed ban on oyster harvesting
of Christmas Bay because of its sensitive ecosystem, Prestige Oysters
co-owner Lisa Halili said. The area is one of few places in the state with
near-pristine water quality and should not be open to commercial fishing,
Halili said.
"We're more than happy to give up this one little sliver of the area if it's
a sensitive ecosystem," Halili said, adding industry players have been in
talks with environmental groups about the bay ecosystem.
Halili insisted the industry's support is not related to an ongoing
controversy in Brazoria County over concerns about damage to grasslands
around Christmas Bay, which environmental groups say was caused by some
oyster harvesters, she said.
During this public season, which started Nov. 1 and runs through May 1, more
oyster harvesters have been working in Christmas Bay, which has created some
tensions with recreational anglers there, Robinson said. The increased
traffic is likely because other public reefs along the Gulf coast are closed
this season, Robinson said.
More than a 100 harvesters have licenses to take oysters on public reefs,
Robinson said. Many of the major oyster companies own private leases in the
bay but do sometimes purchase oysters from smaller operations.
Prestige Oysters does not harvest in Christmas Bay and hadn't purchased any
oysters out of Christmas Bay in about five weeks, Halili said.
Because the water in Christmas Bay is very shallow and the areas to
cultivate oysters are near-shore, many oystermen working in the area have
been walking or driving all-terrain vehicles through the grasslands to get
oysters, said Scott Jones of the Galveston Bay Foundation. Harvesting in the
area also was stirring up sediments and disturbing rookery islands, Jones
said.
Galveston Bay Foundation intends to ask the state to close Christmas Bay to
oyster harvesting, Jones said.
The increased traffic of oyster harvesters also upset recreational anglers
who use public boat ramps at Christmas Bay because commercial boaters were
tying their boats to the ramps for long periods of time.
The Brazoria County Commissioners Court on March 28 voted to put up signs
prohibiting commercial harvesters from using the boat ramps. Because the
county owns the boat ramps, the signs can only apply to those areas,
Robinson said. The state otherwise regulates oyster harvesting.
Of late, fewer oystermen have been fishing in Christmas Bay, which Robinson
said is likely because they have found better places to harvest farther
south.
"We're seeing fewer boats out there but I'd hate to speculate as to why,"
Robinson said.
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