Oyster Valuable to State 



The American oyster (Crassostrea 

 virginica), which can survive the often 

 harsh and constantly changing conditions 

 found in North Carolina's rivers and 

 sounds, has an important place in the 

 state's estuaries. Healthy oysters serve as a 

 natural water-filtration system by cleansing 

 estuaries of suspended materials, taking up 

 excess nuisance algae and promoting 

 growth of vegetation. 



They also create a productive habitat 

 for aquatic life, including blue crabs, 

 shrimp, speckled sea trout, drum and 

 rockfish, and serve as a stabilizing force in 

 the estuaries' sediments. 



"The health of North Carolina's 

 oyster population is a good indicator of the 

 overall health of our estuaries, and all 

 prudent measures should be taken to 

 ensure a viable oyster resource," the N.C. 

 Blue Ribbon Council report states. 



Since before recorded history, the 

 oyster has been an important source of 

 food in coastal areas. When the first 

 Europeans arrived, they were amazed at 

 the number of oysters found. 



The Carolina oyster industry hit its 

 ascent in 1 880s when Baltimore compa- 

 nies built large canneries in coastal towns. 

 Schooners from outside the state crowded 

 the state's oyster beds. They overwhelmed 

 the industry and introduced oyster dredges 

 and longer, sturdier tongs into the local 

 oyster industry. Despite later attempts to 

 restrict dredging, most of the damage to 

 oyster beds already had occurred by 1910. 



The state's oyster stock began 

 declining from its peak around the turn of 

 the century to today's low harvests. For 

 years, many families along the coast made 

 a living from oystering and shrimping. 



In North Carolina, the oyster is found 

 from the extreme southern end of the 

 Albemarle Sound southward through the 

 state's sounds and estuaries to the South 

 Carolina border. The most productive 

 counties are Carteret and Onslow. 



Bill Rice, 87, remembers when 100 

 families around Stump Sound made a 

 living from hand harvesting or tonging for 

 oysters. 



"When I came here in the '40s, 



everybody who lived here all caught 

 oysters for a living," says Rice. "If 

 someone got sick, everyone else would 

 help to pay the doctor's bill." 



Back then, he says, each person had 

 his own private area for harvesting oysters. 

 "You would catch 10 to 17 bushels a day. 

 You didn't poach on other people. 

 Everybody was happy in the oyster 

 business." 



Now, Rice and his family are the only 

 Stump Sound fishers left in the oyster 

 business. 



During the oyster season, Rice and 

 his wife Bemice get up at sunrise when the 

 water is clear to get in their skiff and tong 

 for oysters. They often accompany their 

 daughter Bonnie Swartzenberg and her 

 husband Jim in the sound. Bonnie and her 

 mother use tongs to fill their baskets while 

 Bill and Jim nub the clusters and cull out 

 the dead shell and undersized oysters. 



"Bonnie's mother is the champion 

 of tonging," says 

 Jim Swartzenberg. 

 "Bonnie and 

 her mother can 

 outdo me." 



Rice says that 

 oysters have made a 

 big difference in his 

 life. "Of my seven 

 children, two have 

 Ph.Ds, three have 

 master's degrees 

 and two others have 

 bachelor's degrees. 

 Harvesting oysters 

 (along with farming) 

 gave me added 

 money." 



In the 1960s, 

 ecological changes 

 began affecting 

 oyster harvests. 

 Insidious intrusions 

 — disease and 

 polluted waters, 



Bill Rice tongs for 

 oysters in Stump 

 Sound. 



combined with poor management and 

 overexploitation by the oyster fisher — 

 have tainted this once prolific resource. 



Since the late 1980s, Dermo has 

 been responsible for major oyster kills in 

 North Carolina. Harmless to humans, the 

 parasite wears down oysters over many 

 months and kills them before they reach 

 a harvestable size. 



"The most damage in North 

 Carolina from Dermo has been on the 

 Pamlico Sound where conditions are 

 conducive to the proliferation of 

 parasites," says Marshall. 'Typically, a 

 high salinity in the water and above 

 average temperatures allow the parasite 

 to reproduce in high numbers. If you 

 look back over the last 100 years, 90 

 percent of the oysters landed in North 

 Carolina have come from the Pamlico 

 Sound." 



Over the past years, there also have 



Continued 



