Local oyster firms feel impact of Gulf oil spill
by Larry S. Chowning
Due to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the supply of oysters from this region has been curtailed and the price of oysters has skyrocketed. Oyster processors and distributors in Middlesex County and adjacent areas are feeling the impact—as are local consumers.
The Gulf produces 70% of the nation’s oyster harvest. Rufus Ruark Sr. of Shores and Ruark Seafood in Urbanna said his firm buys about 50 to 60% of its oysters from Gulf Coast suppliers each year, which amounts to about 35,000 to 40,000 bushels annually.
“It has caused us to use oysters that we grow for our half-shell market, and shuck them for our shucked market,” Ruark said. “It has also run the cost up.
“It has caused James River oysters to go up in price from $28 to $40 a bushel at the dock,” he said. “It’s like a price war going on, and customers are not going to pay but so much for oysters.”
Ruark said he and others have already seen customer resistance against the higher retail prices of oysters, and he suspects there will be more outcry.
For many shucking houses, Louisiana oysters have been a fallback for keeping businesses afloat between local harvest seasons, and times of high demand, such as Christmas and Thanksgiving. The current high price of oysters may slow demand during peak-demand seasons, said Ruark.
Leroy Williams of Leroy’s Seafood in Jamaica buys Gulf oysters from Shores and Ruark and trucks them to West Virginia and Ohio.
“This is going to put a lot of people out of business because we rely so much on Gulf oysters,” said Williams. “I haul some shrimp and fish, but my bread and butter is oysters.
“Since the oil well was capped, I’ve started getting some shrimp from the Gulf,” Williams said. “They’ve started opening up some shrimp areas that no longer have oil. Shrimp and fish move around but oysters stay in one place, and when oil drops on a bed of oysters they can’t move away from it.”
Jim Wesson, head of the Conservation and Replenishment Department of Virginia Marine Resources Commission (VMRC), said it’s a good thing that Virginia’s oyster harvests have been increasing over the past few years to make up for the decline in Gulf coast oysters.
When asked if VMRC was considering opening more public grounds to oystermen in the upcoming season, Wesson said, “If we were to open up a lot of areas, then there wouldn’t be anything next year. I don’t think this is going to be a short-term event where you open up one year and think it’s going to be better the next year.
“We don’t know the long-term impact of this oil spill,” he said. “The oil has stopped, so there could be some product coming up here from Texas and Mississippi in the near future.
“We do have a lot of oysters overboard in private aquaculture this year,” Wesson noted. “I’m sure the thought of higher prices will stimulate more private investment, and that’s where the growth in the bay oyster business will come from—from private grounds.”
Gulf oysters are not a high-profit item for Virginia shucking houses, but it keeps money coming in so the houses can continue to keep their employees, said Wesson.
“They can’t hold the shuckers if they don’t have anything to do,” he said. “Many have already sent their shuckers home and will bring them back in the fall.”
“To have a spigot turned off this quick is hard,” said Wesson. “Everybody has said, ‘We are just one hurricane away from disaster,’ but who would have thought instead it would be an oil spill of this magnitude.”
Virginia Institute of Marine Science economists have estimated that the annual economic loss to the Virginia oyster industry from the oil spill is $11.6 million. That number jumps to about $24.4 million statewide when losses to wholesalers, distributors, grocery stores and restaurants are added.