Beaufort County fishermen on closed shellfish beds: ‘We’re taking a beating’

Your regularly scheduled oyster-roast season should resume soon, but for now the shellfish still can’t be harvested locally.

Some local boats returned to the water to resume picking oysters Sunday. But they launched in Charleston County, the only area of the state currently open to shellfish harvesting after Hurricane Matthew.

“I’m hoping our local beds will be open by the end of the week,” said Sea Eagle Market’s Craig Reaves, who will resume selling oysters this week.

That might be too optimistic.

All of South Carolina’s oyster and clam harvesting areas closed Oct. 5 ahead of the storm as a precaution due to concerns about how heavy rain and storm runoff would affect the water quality. Some of Charleston County opened to harvesting last week, but no other areas have been reopened, including Beaufort County.

State environmental officials are testing water quality and the local beds will open as soon as possible, Department of Health and Environmental Control spokesman Robert Yanity said Monday.

Sea Eagle Market leases shellfish beds in Beaufort County and Charleston County, where Sea Eagle resumed harvesting Sunday.

DHEC closed shellfish beds in areas serviced by Beaufort-Jasper Water & Sewer Authority for at least 21 days from Oct. 11, the last day there could have been potential wastewater discharge after the loss of power to the utility’s stations, Water Authority spokeswoman Pam Flasch said.

Bluffton Oyster Company owner Larry Toomer noted that the closures were a precaution and that he has not been made aware of any oysters being contaminated. He hopes to begin harvesting oysters again by Nov. 1.

Closing harvesting due to the storm added to an already late start to the season and has been rough for business, Toomer said.

The Bluffton Arts and Seafood Festival was without its traditional first oyster roast of the season on Oct. 16. Toomer estimated a couple of dozen catering events requiring oysters had been canceled or rescheduled and the restaurant has been without its signature delicacy.

An oyster roast Sea Eagle Market was set to cater at Technical College of the Lowcountry earlier this month turned into a barbecue event instead.

Sea Eagle employees who would have otherwise been out collecting oysters found work cleaning up yard debris from the storm, Reaves said. The company’s boats and gear all survived the storm, he said.

Toomer said his insurance included a clause to cover loss of business but that because it was a named storm and the reason for the revenue hit was off site, Bluffton Oyster Company wasn’t covered.

“We’re taking a beating from it,” Toomer said. “You can sit here and cry about it or you can keep your chin up and keep moving forward. That’s what we will do.”

This story was originally published October 24, 2016 at 10:59 AM with the headline "Beaufort County fishermen on closed shellfish beds: ‘We’re taking a beating’."