Fourth generation Louisiana oysterman John Tesvich is ceasing operations at his Franklin, La., oyster processing company, AmeriPure Oysters, due to sharply declining supplies of fresh oysters caused by the massive BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.The rest is HERE and includes video. If you like Gulf Oysters, you better get them before they disappear.
AmeriPure is one of America’s largest suppliers of half-shell Gulf oysters to grocery store chains and restaurants across America. But operations are stopping, and the company is laying off its 60 workers.
Tesvich and his business partner Pat Fahey hope the closure is only temporary, that oyster supplies may resume in parts of the Gulf by the fourth quarter of this year. In all reality, they really don’t have any idea what’s going to happen as oil spreads across the Gulf.
“Nothing is more insidious than this oil spill,” Tesvich says. “This thing keeps spewing oil, and nothing can be done about it.”
Oysters thrive in the brackish wetlands of the Mississippi delta in areas such as Louisiana’s Barataria Bay. The state of Louisiana leases 400,000 acres of water bottom to commercial oyster suppliers who use mainly mechanical dredging to pull up the catch. Louisiana supplies were already down as a result of low rainfall, which increased the salinity of wetland waters.
In recent weeks … as supplies of fresh oysters have dwindled … AmeriPure reduced shifts of workers from five to three days a week. Now, there are not enough oysters to keep operating.
More later.
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I suppose we will be seeing the aftermath of this for years if not decades.
ReplyDeleteLast Friday when I was at our local farmer's market, I overheard one of the stand owners (who prepares items with shrimp). He had just been talking on the phone, probably with one of his suppliers. The cost of shrimp had just gone up another dollar.
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