Clam and oyster harvests in Virginia last year set sales records, according to the annual Virginia Shellfish Aquaculture Situation and Outlook Report released last week.
A record 243 million hard clams were sold last year, along with about 39.8 million oysters, also a record. Sales for both products totaled a record USD 56 million (EUR 52.8 million), which included about USD 39 million (EUR 36.8 million) in clam sales and USD 17 million (EUR 16 million) in oyster sales. About 86 percent of oysters farmed in Virginia were sold out of state in 2014.
Karen Hudson, a co-author of the report and a shellfish aquaculture extension specialist at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science in Gloucester Point, said oyster growers’ revenue increased 33 percent over 2013, while clam growers’ revenue increased by 14 percent.
Demand for Virginia’s oysters has grown partly because of supply issues in Louisiana, which is still recovering from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion and spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Tolar Nolley, founder of the Oyster Company of Virginia, a cooperative of watermen, businessmen and scientists, told the Richmond Times-Dispatch that a parasitic disease is striking oysters in Texas, and New York closed some oyster grounds due to ocean acidification.
“So the good news is that Virginia and the Chesapeake Bay are now being once again recognized as a viable supply chain,” Nolley said.
