All is well with the oyster business, or maybe we should say, things are just the way they always are - work is called work because it is work.
Headlines in the Nov. 30 issue of Newsday, "Shell Shocked on North Shore" and "Epidemic Threatens Oysters Off LI," left Dave Relyea, co-owner of Frank M. Flower, dismayed. It was reminiscent of a cable Mark Twain sent in 1897, from London to the Associated Press in New York, saying "The rumors of my death are greatly exaggerated," when a mistaken obituary announcement appeared in a newspaper.
"My phone has been ringing off the wall," said Mr. Relyea on Monday, Dec. 1. The town called, the press were calling. Everyone wanted to hear his explanation of the article. He had a simple way to describe the situation, "Oyster diseases are an inconvenience that we have successfully dealt with many times in the past and we are not overly concerned, at this time."
The article was the result of topic of discussion at the Marine Advisory Council to the New York State DEC in Setauket recently. A Newsday reporter, taking the place of Locust Valley reporter Bill Bleyer, was there and he asked Mr. Relyea for help in writing an article on the issue.
Mr. Relyea expected the article to be in a column format, informative and run-of-the-mill, not one that made page three of the daily. But still, the placement of the story, he said, on page three, shows that the public realizes the oyster is an important part of the economy, history and future of Long Island.
Successful farming is a mixture of effort blended with luck that results in a good harvest. The current problem is an ongoing thing," said Mr. Relyea. "We have been dealing with it since the early 1980s and we find a way to work around it and stay in business. It's not a threat to the business."
He can still keep up to his customer list. "We have substantial numbers of oysters. We're in good shape. We could be making a lot more money, but that's the farming business," he said.
What's getting the oysters on the whole of the north shore of Long Island, is either MSX (Haplosporidium nelsoni) or Dermo. The parasites, who like oysters, are microscopic single cell animals that eventually kill some of the oysters.
The breeding stock Flowers uses are ones that have become resistance to the parasite. That breeding stock is developing the new oysters we will be putting out in the near future," he said.
While the parasite is killing a great many oysters, there are still large numbers of the animals out there, he said.
Mr. Relyea said "In Chesapeake Bay and in Delaware, they have a more serious problem. They have lost more oysters than we did. We think it's because of the higher average water temperature there that is the problem. Here, we have cooler waters, so we can continue to culture the oyster up here and they are having more difficulty.
"We're not extremely worried, we are approaching it as we always have and we don't see it as that much of a problem. It's all part of the shellfish industry."
We don't feel threatened," he said. While an oyster equals about 25 cents, "We still have a lot of oysters that are healthy and marketable and a lot of effort is going to clams. The business outlook is good for Frank M. Flower," he said.
"All the oysters that are marketed are healthy and not a problem for the consumer," he said. The oyster itself is a delicate animal. When it is attacked by the parasite, it dies quickly and leaves an empty shell. It is easily identified and easy to wash overboard.
All in all, he said, that people are concerned about oystering is an important thing, and I am glad they are. It's just that things were blown out of proportion. We are not in danger of losing the business," he said.
And speaking of business, this business, newspapers, articles get spins. The writer decides from what vantage point to put the details of a story together. What this reader did, and many others are doing, is to call Mr. Relyea to see if the spin was in the right direction.
It wasn't.
