Waco restaurants serving oysters and shrimp are feeling the impact of the torrent of crude oil that has been spoiling Gulf of Mexico waters since April 20.

Oysters come chiefly from areas in the Gulf that are affected the most by the oil. Oysters, bottom-dwelling delicacies, are now scarce and expensive.

Louisiana shrimp fisheries also are closed because of the oil, said Jim Ruhle, president of the fishing industry group Commercial Fishermen of America. Texas’ shrimp fishery is still producing, Ruhle said.

Chinese Kitchen employee Alan Ren washes off snow crab at the restaurant on Valley Mills Drive.
Rod Aydelotte/Waco Tribune-Herald

But the problem with maintaining shrimp fishing in Texas is that boats that once fished Louisiana have to travel long distances to get here, driving up costs, he said.

Sondra Waits, co-owner of Waco Custom Meats and Seafood, said her supply of fresh oysters is running low. She sells wholesale to restaurants and other businesses as well as retail to individuals.

Frozen oysters are still available, but shrimp prices are going up, as well, she said. Medium to large Gulf shrimp have gone from $6 a pound to $7.50 a pound, she said.

H-E-B offers more than 40 kinds of seafood in its grocery stores, spokeswoman Tamra Jones said. The chain has had to drop oysters but is trying to develop other sources for the shellfish.

H-E-B, which operates its own fleet of shrimp boats on the Texas coast, will continue marketing Gulf Coast shrimp, she said.

Local restaurants say they’re taking the hit on higher prices and have not yet passed on the costs to customers.

At Waco seafood restaurant El Siete Mares, owner Sergio Garcia said his costs for fresh oysters have gone from $34 a gallon to $47 a gallon. Shrimp have climbed from about $4.95 per pound to almost $7 per pound.

If the fresh oyster supply runs out, Garcia doesn’t plan on using frozen ones, and he would stop offering oysters, he said.

Frannie Huang, manager of Chinese Kitchen, said she has seen oyster prices range anywhere from $40 a gallon to $80 a gallon.

The restaurant is a buffet, and no changes have been made in menu pricing, she said.

Taking the blow

Buzzard Billy’s also carries oysters, and owner Tracy Maughan said the restaurant is just absorbing the cost.

An oyster boat heads out of the harbor of San Leone, Texas, on June 11 to harvest oysters in Galveston Bay.
Alberto Martinez/Austin American-Statesman

“Most of it comes from the Texas Gulf Coast. The other stuff, we can get it from the West Coast,” he said.

The other supplies Maughan refers to — fish, crab, shellfish and other offerings — generally come from the East or West coasts or can be brought in from overseas, though often at a higher cost.

Data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration show 67 percent of the nation’s oyster production comes from the Gulf of Mexico.

Almost three-quarters of oyster production is from Louisiana waters. Louisiana produces about 12.8 million pounds of oysters each year that are worth nearly $40 million.

Texas is the distant No. 2 producer out of the five Gulf Coast states, at about 2.7 million pounds in annual oyster production that is worth about $8.8 million.

Other seafood species affected by the oil include blue crab, Gulf stone and stone crab. Twenty-six percent of the nation’s blue crab catch comes from Louisiana.

Texas oyster-boat crewmen Adan Leiva (left) and Salvador Aguilar break up oyster clusters dredged from Galveston Bay on June 11. Texas’ oyster fishery is the second-largest in the five Gulf Coast states, but it is a fraction of the size of the national leader, oil-stricken Louisiana.
Alberto Martinez/Austin American-Statesman

Crab not hit as hard

Blue crab and many fish aren’t as affected as oysters are because they can move away from the oil, said Gavin Gibbons, spokesman for the McLean, Va.-based National Fisheries Institute. Fish and crab are being fished at about 70 percent of their normal capacity in the Gulf, Gibbons said.

Blue crab also is caught in the coasts of Texas, Maryland, Florida, North Carolina and Virginia, Ruhle said.

But Gulf oysters have a distinctive taste, Gibbons said. They can be substituted with East Coast oysters, which are similar in taste. The other option is a Pacific oyster from the West Coast, but it has a different taste, and Gulf oyster lovers will know, he said.

bteeter@wacotrib.com

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