{"id":6513,"date":"2000-12-01T13:30:00","date_gmt":"2000-12-01T18:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ncseagrant.ncsu.edu\/coastwatch\/?page_id=6513"},"modified":"2024-06-24T22:17:17","modified_gmt":"2024-06-25T02:17:17","slug":"the-vanishing-oyster-stocks-are-declining-in-north-carolina","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ncseagrant.ncsu.edu\/coastwatch\/the-vanishing-oyster-stocks-are-declining-in-north-carolina\/","title":{"rendered":"The Vanishing Oyster: Stocks Are Declining in North Carolina"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n
While the tide is low on the Newport River, Garry Culpepper trudges through muddy water to a large oyster rock on a nearby shore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dressed in black boots and gloves, Culpepper bends over and picks up a large oyster shell. \u201cThis is a rock oyster,” he says. “It is nicely round and fat. This is what you used to find all around the Newport River.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now Culpepper \u2014 one of the last hand-harvesters of oysters left in the state \u2014 has to settle for a small coon oyster that is thinner and less meaty than the rock oyster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I don’t work this shore,” he says. \u201cI go to more productive areas. You would probably work this area hard and only get one bushel. Since we lost the Cross Rock in the Newport River, we have been forced to work the river near the ocean inlet and settle for coons. It is not a high-grade oyster.” The rock was closed to harvesting because of pollution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While Culpepper is laboring in the river, many of his neighbors are steaming oysters on a gas grill for the Mill Creek Oyster Festival. For the past 26 years, the festival has celebrated the delectable oysters harvested on the Newport River. Each year, people flock to the festival to get bowls of steaming clam chowder and plates full of fried seafood and steamed oysters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There’s only one problem: the oysters don’t even come from the Newport River.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThese oysters are from Mississippi,” says David Knox, the festival organizer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We have been getting oysters out of state for eight years. We get about 200 bushels for the festival. It is hard to get anyone around here to guarantee that many oysters.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The vanishing oysters on the Newport River is a familiar scenario in other North Carolina rivers and creeks \u2014 from Harlowe Creek in Carteret County to Lockwood Folly River in Brunswick County.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the tum of the century, North Carolina produced almost two million bushels of oysters a year. By the 1920s and 1930s, annual production had declined to about 300,000 bushels. In 1998, 44,613 bushels of oysters were harvested in North Carolina compared to 225,000 bushels in 1987, according to the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
”From 1900 to 1945, ovemarvesting and harvesting methods had a lot to do with the decline of the oyster industry,” says Mike Marshall, DMF central district manager. “After 1988, Dermo (a naturally occurring parasite) has greatly affected the oyster industry. In between, there has been a lot of habitat loss and water quality has been affected.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To address the oyster crisis, the N.C. Blue Ribbon Advisory Council on Oysters was initiated in 1992. The recommendations included more support for mariculture or fish farming. North Carolina Sea Grant has been on the forefront of educating fishers about mariculture techniques.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The council also addressed protecting and resto1ing oyster habitats; improving coastal water quality and developing disease-resistant strains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Though few of the recommendations have been implemented, they are being considered by the DMF for the long-term oyster management plan. The Fisheries Reform Act of 1997 mandates that the state establish management plans for oysters and other major fisheries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe plan will be finished in October 2000,” says Marshall. “One of the most important parts of the plan is managing oyste.rs around diseases. Another contro\u00adversial issue is using non-native species in North Carolina waters.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n