Harvey Dealt a ‘Devastating Blow’ to Galveston Bay Oysters

Hurricane Harvey was incredibly hard on the oysters of Galveston Bay. The entire population may have been destroyed by Harvey’s rains and rainwater runoff, reports the Houston Chronicle.

So far, preliminary tests of the bay’s salinity levels measured in this week at 0 to 5 parts per thousand. That’s a far cry from the 12 to 30 parts per thousand that oysters in Galveston Bay need to thrive.

"This is a devastating blow to the Galveston Bay oyster supply," Tommy’s Restaurant Oyster Bar owner Tom Tollet told the paper. "And we're all going to feel it."

The days of $6 for a dozen oysters on the half shell might be numbered, not to mention the hurt this will put on restaurant owners and the commercial fishing and seafood processing industry. According to the Chronicle, it could take two years or longer for oysters to repopulate the bay. Galveston’s oyster population was just on the verge of a rebound after Hurricane Ike.

• Harvey decimated Galveston Bay's oyster population [Houston Chronicle]