Today marks the last day of the commercial oyster season, and local watermen say that this was one of the best years in recent memory. Reports abound of watermen getting their limit in record time.
According to Joe Spurry of Bay Hundred Seafood, this year was the best oyster season in the past 25 or 30 years. “But you don’t read that in the newspapers. It’s not all doom and gloom, it’s been a great year. The numbers are up, their health has rebounded,” he said.
Waterman Jeff Harrison said that in 2003, Broad Creek oysters were wiped out due to disease, but this year, the harvest has been huge, and watermen are seeing more young oysters than ever before. “Mark my words”, he said, “as long as there’s no natural disaster this year, 2014 is going to be a record year for oysters in Broad Creek.”
Spurry and Harrison were just two of the local watermen that participated in State of the Oyster, the community conversation about the iconic Chesapeake Bay bivalve hosted by the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum over four recent Sunday afternoons. Spurry shared some of the local harvest with the crowd.
For those looking for just one more reason to pick up some fresh, local oysters for the holiday weekend – the successful harvest is good local news to celebrate, indeed. And you might as well eat up, because even though crab season begins on April 1st, it usually takes a while for local crabs to come in.
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