MD Oystermen Want Federal Bailout

Annap Cap Gazette, Maryland eyes federal disaster aid for oyster industry: ‘It’s our heritage’

Maryland officials say they are gathering the data needed to pursue federal disaster aid for
the state’s struggling oyster industry, as watermen and Eastern Shore lawmakers press for relief under both the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s fishery disaster process and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

For weeks, lawmakers and watermen have called for help, citing market conditions described as among the worst in recent memory, along with a historically cold winter and complications from the Potomac River sewage spill that have devastated the once-robust Maryland oyster industry.

At a meeting of the General Assembly’s Eastern Shore Delegation on Friday, Robert T. Brown, president of the Maryland Watermen’s Association, called oysters “the backbone of the industry.” “Just about anybody who’s in the seafood industry oysters a certain amount,” he said. “They crab most of the season, but they’ll oyster a little bit during the winter. It’s just a way of life that has been for years. It’s our heritage.”

I've done my fair share of oystering. It's backbreaking, dirty work.

Brown said the problem isn’t supply but buyers. A steep dropoff was clear as early as Thanksgiving, he said. “When Thanksgiving came and Christmas, our markets just fell apart,” he said. “I started oystering back in the ’60s, and in Christmas, you never could catch enough … for some reason, we got a generation of people that’s not eating oysters.”

Maryland Department of Natural Resources Secretary Josh Kurtz said the state has already begun working with NOAA on a potential fishery disaster declaration because of the market decline. Kurtz described a Feb. 4 meeting with NOAA’s fisheries disaster team after lawmakers and watermen asked the state to pursue federal help.

When the customers aren't buying your product, either the price is too high, or your product is not in sufficient demand. I suspect both are in play. According to Grok, oysters in Maryland command a retail price of $80-130/ bushel, and more in smaller lots, and if shucked. Certainly doable for a party, but a bit much for daily fare. Moreover, more and more Maryland residents are from out of state, and not into to the culture and wouldn't even know how to eat an oyster.  I don't see how the Feds are going to make us eat more oysters. But if they lower the price somehow, maybe I'll help.