Overfishing and the slow recovery of oyster beds wiped out by the 2010 Gulf oil spill are to blame
Some local restaurants say they're having trouble finding Louisiana oysters and have begun serving oysters from Texas.
Byron Encalade, President of the Louisiana Oystermen Association, blames the low supply on the 2010 Gulf oil spill. He says the spill wiped out prime oyster harvesting areas east of the Mississippi River, and those areas have been slow to recover.
"When you take away your prime oyster producing area and take it out of service, then it's gonna put a strain on the rest of the state," Encalade said.
Overfishing of oyster grounds not affected by the spill is also keeping the supply of Louisiana oysters down, he added.
Encalade predicts "if we don't get something going this year, then we could very well easily be 8 to 10 years out from the oil spill before there's any hope of going back to fishing oysters on the east bank of the river."
