Hard-luck Mississippi Gulf Coast will have its first oyster season since 2018

BILOXI, Miss. -- The Mississippi Gulf Coast, battered by a mammoth oil spill more than a decade ago and left bereft by years of subsequent flooding, will have its first oyster season since 2018.

The oyster season will open at sunrise, Nov. 13, in eight harvesting areas, but will last only 10 days, the state Department of Marine Resources said in a statement Wednesday.

The agency has set harvest limits at 10 sacks per vessel for both commercial oyster tonging and dredging. Recreational harvest is limited to three sacks per recreationally licensed resident for a seven-day period.

The season arrives with the approach of Thanksgiving, when residents look forward to including oysters in holiday spreads.

The state has invested millions to restore oyster reefs since the 2010 BP oil spill. But flooding has in subsequent years, decimated the beds, diluting salinity in the Mississippi Sound to the point that oysters couldn’t survive, the Sun Herald reported.

In 2019, Mississippi River water released through the Bonnet Carré Spillway in Louisiana killed almost all the oysters on Mississippi's most productive reefs, which are in the western sound.

“Through our monitoring efforts, we have seen positive growth over the last couple of years and are ready to open a limited season in certain areas,” Joe Spraggins, the department’s director, told the newspaper. “The season is to provide some access to the industry and get Mississippi oysters on the market.”

With a limited season, Spraggins said, the agency wants to avoid fragile reefs being over-fished so that oyster growth can be preserved.