The 

 Vanishing 

 Oyster: 



By Ann Green • Photos by Scott D. Taylor 



Newport River, Garry Culpepper trudges 

 through muddy water to a large oyster rock 

 on a nearby shore. 



Dressed in black boots and gloves, 

 Culpepper bends over and picks up a large 

 oyster shell. "This is a rock oyster," he says. 

 "It is nicely round and fat. This is what you 

 used to find all around the Newport River." 



Now Culpepper — one of the last 

 hand-harvesters of oysters left in the state 

 — has to settle for a small coon oyster that 

 is thinner and less meaty than the rock 

 oyster. 



"I don't work this shore," he says. "I 

 go to more productive areas. You would 

 probably work this area hard and only get 

 one bushel. Since we lost the Cross Rock in 

 the Newport River, we have been forced to 

 work the river near the ocean inlet and 

 settle for coons. It is not a high-grade 

 oyster." The rock was closed to harvesting 

 because of pollution. 



While Culpepper is laboring in the 

 river, many of his neighbors are steaming 

 oysters on a gas grill for the Mill Creek 

 Oyster Festival. For the past 26 years, the 

 festival has celebrated the delectable 

 oysters harvested on the Newport River. 

 Each year, people flock to the festival to get 

 bowls of steaming clam chowder and plates 

 full of fried seafood and steamed oysters. 



There's only one problem: the oysters 

 don't even come from the Newport River. 



Stocks Are Declining 

 in North Carolina 



hile the tide is low on the 



Continued 



6 WINTER 2000 



