The 2008 Mississippi oyster haul is expected to be a good one, as the harvest could return to pre-Hurricane Katrina levels, say Gulf Coast oystermen.
"I think we’ve had some record numbers," Joe Jenkins Crystal Seas Seafood told the Biloxi Sun Herald. "We will probably go over the 400,000-sack mark this year alone."
Effects of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 on oyster reefs and fishermen caused declines in recent Mississippi oyster harvests from the 378,673 sacks hauled in 2004.
A reef restoration program and the return of oystermen has led to higher catches.
