"Conn. oysterers may gain from spill" by Pat Eaton-Robb, Associated Press | July 19, 2010
HARTFORD — Connecticut’s oyster industry has seen its share of hardships, from parasites that nearly wiped out the shellfish in the 1990s to storms this spring that washed away entire beds.
But another disaster, the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, could mean higher profits and the potential for growth in the Long Island Sound oyster industry, experts say....
Long Island Sound and the Chesapeake Bay are the only other large oyster producers on the East Coast, but their harvest is a small fraction of what’s pulled from the waters of the gulf and Washington state, said Tessa Getchis, a University of Connecticut researcher who studies the industry for the national Sea Grant project.
There are about 40 companies involved in shellfishing in Connecticut....
It’s not clear how many oysters are harvested in Connecticut because oysterers stopped reporting that to the state several years ago, when state legislation was proposed to tax the harvest, said David Carey, director of the state’s Bureau of Aquaculture....
But don’t expect an overnight oyster boom in Connecticut to replace the gulf crop.
For one thing, Getchis said, most Connecticut oysters are very high quality, cultivated and sold alive and whole to restaurants and seafood stores. Much of the gulf product consists of lower-quality oysters that grow wild. Most are harvested, shucked, and canned....
Many oyster growers are already operating at peak capacity, and with high costs of waterfront property and dock space, it’s unlikely new businesses will open in response to the gulf spill, said Ken Gall, a Sea Grant researcher from Cornell University....
“If you took a 55-gallon drum of motor oil and dumped it in your front lawn, it would be there four years from now,’’ Kehoe said. “As this oil settles into the oyster beds in the gulf, its going to damage the oyster beds for we don’t know how long.’’
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