EasternOyster_BayClosures_Luster_Ronnie_HoustonTX_14August2023_Reel4167.mp3

Ronnie Luster [00:00:00] We've put a lot of interest in in the last three years to the oyster issue, whereby the commercial oyster industry has been basically really overharvesting reefs that needed to be not harvested much. And so that is where a lot of our efforts are going in now.

Ronnie Luster [00:00:21] We just got four different bay systems closed, essentially forever, that have recently been overharvested to the point to where they weren't before, because there were enough oysters in Galveston Bay, Matagorda Bay, East Matagorda Bay, and San Antone Bay, and around Rockport and Aransas Pass, that there was enough for the commercial industry to harvest, and not have to move around.

Ronnie Luster [00:00:50] And what's happened the last several years is, especially after Ike, and Galveston Bay being the biggest producer of oysters, by far, then when the bay systems would open, all of a sudden the state would monitor the harvest and then all of a sudden they'd close an area.

Ronnie Luster [00:01:07] And then everyone would move to the next open area, where you might have 40 or 50 oyster boats oystering on one reef...

Ronnie Luster [00:01:17] Those oyster reefs are ... important because they filter water. They provide areas for little fish, crabs, everything to survive when they're young.

Ronnie Luster [00:01:29] They're just a, a marvelous environmental impact to the bay systems.