Oysters Gihooley won several more converts yesterday. Mike Lavigne, a government relations consultant from Austin was in town to learn about the oyster biz. He liked the pecan-smoked barbecued oysters a whole lot. So did my buddy John Bebout. I couldn’t believe Bebout never had them before.
At Lavigne’s request, we put together a rump council of the oyster industry in San Leon to discuss some of the political problems in the Texas oyster biz. It was a very interesting discussion.
Over in Louisiana, the oyster business enjoys lots of support from the state. There is plenty of funding for projects that benefit the fishery and lots of new research. Dr. John Supan at LSU is building an oyster hatchery. He is experimenting with raising oysters in bags, purifying summer oysters in high saline water and improving genetics.
Meanwhile, here in Texas, the state is doing less than nothing. Oystermen pay a 33¢ per bag fee to the state. Miso Ivic who owns Misho’s Oysters and Johnny and Lisa Halili who own Prestige Oyster were there at Gilhooley’s. They said that they had paid millions of dollars to the state in fees over the years.
The tag fee money used to come back to the industry. It was given to Texas Parks and Wildlife for enforcement and to the Texas Dept. of State Health Services for water quality testing. Then the Texas legislature cut back on payments. The state still pays out about $150,000 a year for the water quality testing, but the rest of the money has disappeared into the general revenue.
We are talking about $250,000 to $300,000 a year, peanuts in the big picture. But that money would go a long way if it were applied to a marketing effort to promote Texas oysters across the country. Jim Gossen of Louisiana Foods is already working on a program to sell select Gulf oysters by place names. It’s a program that could change the reputation of Texas oysters and make oyster fishermen and dealers a lot more money. But it needs to be a group effort. The Louisiana folks are interested. So what about Texas?
Maybe Mike Lavigne can figure out some way to get the Texas Legislature interested in the state’s oyster fishery. I am thinking the first thing we need to do is to get some state reps down to San Leon to eat some Oysters Gilhooley.
The state takes money wherever they can get it. Look at what they did with the lotto money. Said it was for education but then we find out it only replaced the money they took from the education fun, not added to it.
And plz don’t mention Gihooley’s anymore. The wait is long enough. 🙂
Damn, Robb, if you are going to mention Gilhooley’s you should include a picture of someone standing on the shell pile in the parking lot. Joan Batson took one look at the picture of me and said “With that funny-looking hat all you need is a hand on your hip and a fingir in the air leading the masses into the future!” And I never knew that Soviet Realism was one of the art forms she is a fan of.
Interesting about the state’s lack of support for the local industry. My friend who grows the shiitakes in Arlington estimates that about 20% of the products sold under the “Go Texan” label squeak in under the “enhanced in Texas” clause. Basically, if you buy a rail car full of pinto beans from California and put them in bags in Texas that counts as a Texas product. Needless to say, this weakening of “Go Texan” does not please actual Texas growers.
Texas also does nothing to help out the shrimpers. Being a Texan, I feel that gulf seafood is the best and deserve supports from the states that it benefits.
Maybe the Nature Conservancy can lobby the state lege:
http://www.nature.org/popups/features/art31456.html
I’ve never been there but those oysters look absolutely fab! The way the state government takes these funds and plays the shell game irritates the heck out of me.