The First Half of the 20. Century: East Coast John McCabe

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Looking at the East Coast and the Gulf purely in terms of oysters, one could distinguish between four distinct territories: all the Atlantic coastal states north of the Chesapeake Bay (Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Delaware), the Chesapeake Bay area itself (Maryland, Virginia), the Atlantic states south of the Chesapeake Bay (North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida), and the states along the Gulf of Mexico (Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana und Texas). The southeastern coastal states still had vast oyster reefs. Unlike many areas in the Northeast, human and industrial pollution and harvesting had not impacted the oyster beds to any great extent. With a seemingly endless supply of delicious Eastern oysters (Crassostrea virginica), the Gulf States were emerging as the undisputed kings of oysters in the United States.

The splendid Chesapeake Bay, in terms of oysters at least, existed more or less in a world of its own. Historically, in terms of oysters, Maryland and Virginia actually appear more northerly than southerly. Since the 1830s, millions upon millions of small and medium sized oysters from the Chesapeake Bay had been transplanted for grow-out in the long since over-harvested northeastern coastal waters. The northeastern states were also a key market for the Chesapeake Bay oyster industry. Also, the unbridled oyster harvesting philosophy on the Chesapeake Bay, in plain view of the likely consequences, is most remensicent of the unbridled harvesting practices in the Northeast's past. While the northeastern oystermen were by now fighting tooth and nail to maintain what was left of their once grand oyster stocks, the oyster industry on the Chesapeake Bay continued to harvest oysters as if they were still an infinitely abundant resource. After a record 15 million bushels in 1894/95, the Chesapeake Bay oyster industry continued to dredge and tong millions of bushels of oysters annually for several decades into the 20th century. Between the late 1920s and early 50s, harvest levels declined to about two to four million bushels per year. By the late 50s, the bottom had fallen out of the Chesapeake Bay oyster industry due to over-harversting and the advent of the horrible oyster diseases "Dermo" and "MSX".

The first half of the 20th century dealt the oystermen of the northeastern coastal states a bad hand. They were still working as hard as ever, continuously shelling, bedding and diligently tending to their oyster beds. Nevertheless, the sets of young oysters (the amount of oyster larvae that actually settle and grow) were often either poor or nonexistent. Connecticut oystermen, for instance, only counted four fine sets between 1920 and 1950. They also counted eight light sets and thirteen seasons with no sets at all. Millions of young oysters, originating largely from the Chesapeake Bay, continued to be bedded in northeastern coastal waters.

Human and industrial pollution in coastal waters was increasingly rearing its ugly head. In the first decade of the 20th century, typhoid fever and gastrointestinal disorders were becoming quite prevalent in the U.S. Northeast. Back in 1896, a British pathologist by the name of David Crorie, had already published a scientific report called "Bacteria in Oysters". His report followed an unexpected outbreak of typhoid fever after the Stirling County Ball in Scotland in October 1895. Many more typhoid cases (and a number of deaths) followed in the United Kingdom. By 1899, the British government had already passed the "Oyster Bill", which mandated testing the sanitary condition of oyster beds, from which oysters for public consumption were to be harvested.

Previously often glossed over as some "gastro-intestinal disorders" that also could have originated from any number of sources, the serious potential dangers associated with the consumption of oysters now were obvious to many. Between 1906 and 1909, health and sanitary issues regarding oysters (and shellfish in general) had moved high up on the agenda of the U.S. Congress and the United States Dept. of Agriculture. Congress and the USDA subsequently issued a set of rules and guidelines for the oyster industry, such as no longer permitting the shipment of oysters in containers where the oysters came in direct contact with ice. The common practice of submerging oysters in brackish water close to market places to have the meats swell up and eliminate any kind of mud or sand (a procedure called "bloating"), was also no longer permitted. Public confidence in oysters being a healthy type of food was eroding rapidly and demand for northeastern oysters was affected accordingly. Ultimately, some folks were blaming oysters for just about any kind of ailment.

These new sanitational laws and guidelines helped restore some consumer confidence - for a while at least. Although the more stringent processing laws imposed by the government were welcomed by some growers, others could not bear the combined burden of decreased consumer demand and the added production expense these laws caused. Several oyster growers and packing houses either went out of business or had to consolidate with other firms.

Faced with an increasingly difficult business environment, a number of American oyster growers, processors and wholesalers felt it was high time to organize. In 1908, the first annual convention of OGDA (Oyster Growers and Dealers Association) was held. OGDA launched an advertising campaign with ads touting the nutritional value of oysters and the many marvelous ways this delicious bivalve could be prepared and enjoyed on any occasion. In 1909, the NASC (National Association of Shellfish Commissioners) held its first formal convention. Commissioners of various types, representing the interests of a number of states, ewwhere shellfish and fishery in general were of great importance, were later joined by biologists specialising in oysters as well as many other interested participants. The goals of all these organizations were most abitious. An attempt was made to build a framework within which industry and governmental issues could be worked on cohesively and constructively. The goals were to fiercely fight pollution, attempt to unite many oystermen who previously were independent and fierce competitors into a common cause, lobby the government to pay more attention to the fishery industry and recognize it as a critically important segment of the nation's industry portfolio as a whole, energize the government to support more scientific research in the shellfish industry, slow some of the drastic price cutting some oyster producers were engaging in, and, above all, regain the public trust in oysters (and shellfish in general) - and thus hopefully sell more oysters. In 1915, NASC changed its name to NAFC (National Association of Fisheries Commissioners). Both OGDA and NAFC continued to grow in membership and importance and also became increasingly influential on government policies pertaining to the fishery industry. However, although fighting pollution was on the top of the agenda, the oystermen were fighting a loosing battle in this area. Coastal pollution went from bad to worse.

In 1924, 1,500 people contracted typhoid fever and about 150 died. The cause was traced directly to the consumption of contaminated oysters. So much pain, suffering and death of innocent citizens led to a public outrage. Whatever consumer confidence the governmental regulations had managed to build in the years prior was now lost, more so than ever. Sales of northeastern oysters plummeted. Consumers decided to either to abstain from eating oysters alltogether or often tended to avoid buying local oysters, particularly from the waters of New Jersey, New York and Connecticut. Oyster buyers would now often look further south to the Chesapeake Bay, North Carolina and the Gulf States. More northeastern oyster firms went out of business.

In the wake of the tragic typhoid outbreak, closures of some oystering grounds were governmentally imposed, starting with the great Raritan Bay. In and around New York City, raw sewage had already found its way into the sea for centuries. During the 17th , 18th , and 19th century, oysters from the waters around New York City had been among the most desirable in all of America. They had names like "Jamaica Bays, Rockaways and Saddle Rocks". Between 1880 and 1920, New York City was still considered by many the undisputed oyster capital of the United States. The once vast oyster beds around Manhattan were finally closed by city health officials in 1927 to prevent the spread of typhoid. The oysters, however, managed to survive in an increasingly dangerous cocktail of heavy metals, petroleum byproducts, pesticides and PCBs clear into the 1950s. By the 1970s, all but a few oysters in the waters of New York's boroughs had finally died. (On a happier note: Since then, great efforts have been taken to improve the water quality. In a number of places, the oysters can survive again today. Although the oysters are not (yet) fit for human consumption, they once again are able to help clean up a big marine mess.)

Following the typhoid disaster, OGDA, NAFC, and the shellfish industry as a whole called upon the government more fervently than ever before to help control pollution, prudently expand the principles of food safety for shellfish, support the marine sciences, and to start protecting what was left of the shellfish industry. Consumer trust in oysters had plummeted once again.

This time, the U.S. Government responded rapidly and thoroughly with a number of new measures to guard the public health from anything similar happening again. In 1925, the National Shellfish Sanitation Program (NSSP) was created. The NSSP was (and still is) a powerful tripartite cooperative program, consisting of the Public Health Service (later to become known as the Food and Drug Administration or "FDA"), State regulatory agencies and their respective public health officials, as well as the shellfish industry, which started to work closely together to improve the public safety of oysters, clams, and mussels.

In a letter to state health officers dated On August 12, 1925, the Surgeon General wrote a letter to state health officers which would reshape the shellfish indutry entirely to this very day. Here are some key excerpts from that letter:

"The Public Health Service considers that the responsibility for the sanitary control of the shellfish industry rests chiefly upon the individual states; and that the requisite coordination and uniformity of control may best be achieved by mutual agreement among the states, with the assistance and cooperation of the Public Health Service..."

"In accordance with this principle, it is considered that each producing state is directly responsible for the effective regulation of all production and handling of shellfish within its confines, not merely for the protection of its own citizens, but equally for safeguarding such of its product as goes to other states..."

"In order that each state may have full information concerning the measures carried out in other states, the Public Health Service will undertake systematic surveys of the machinery and efficiency of sanitary control as actually established in each producing state, and will report thereon for the information of the authorities of other states. It is believed that, in addition to furnishing valuable information, these reports will have an important influence in stimulating the development of better sanitary control and in promoting substantial uniformity on a higher plane."

"The officers of the Public Health Service assigned to this survey work will assist the state agencies in determining their sanitary problems, in formulating plans for adequate sanitary control, and in making actual sanitary surveys as far as practicable."

"In addition to the above, the Public Health Service will continue to extend the services which it is already rendering, especially in conducting scientific investigations of fundamental importance to control, and in serving as a clearinghouse for the interchange of information and the discussion of policies between state authorities."

Our present day "National Shellfish Sanitation Program Manual of Operations" (NSSP Handbook) later evolved out of this program. By addressing many areas such as administrative procedures, guidelines for shellfish growers and growing areas, laboratory procedures and patrolling of harvesting, this (two-volume) manual provides guidance to states in creating shellfish laws and regulations. The horrors of the typhoid outbreak in the United States were also noted with great concern in Canada. It thus led to the development of a very similar program called the Canadian Shellfish Sanitation Program (CSSP), which (to this day) operates on strict protocols jointly agreed upon by the Canadian and United States governments.

In the late 1920s, wonderful things started happening in the scientific sector of the shellfish industry. Big names in "oyster science", like Paul Galtsoff, Victor Loosanoff, H. D. Pease, J. R. Nelson, C.M. Yonge from England, and more started to emerge. Names like Galtsoff and Yonge for instance are still referenced frequently in scientific texts on shellfish of the 21st century. In a little village called Woods Hole on the southern tip of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, a small governmental oceanic research laboratory had started operating as early as 1871. It was the first marine science station in the United States. In 1930, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute went into operation.

The Great Depression of the 30s had a mixed effect on the oyster industry. Some oystermen suffered and others actually benefited. A gallon of shucked oysters brought 50c in 1900. By 1928 the gallon cost of shucked oysters had risen to $3.59 (Source: New Haven Colony Historical Society). Consumer confidence had recovered and oysters remained "an affordable luxury" - even during these trying economic times. Hence, despite the widespread misery caused by the depression, there were still plenty of oyster buyers.

In 1930, the NAFC (National Association of Fisheries Commissioners) changed its name (again) to "NSA" (National Shellfisheries Association). OGDA (Oyster Growers and Dealers Association) and the NSA started joinig forces and cooperating more and more by sharing parts of their agenda and hosting national shellfish conventions together.

OGDA revolutionized its past marketing efforts to endear the oyster with the general public in 1935. They created a separate entity called the "Oyster Institute of North America" (OINA). OINA quickly became a most important arm of OGDA. By maintaining an office in Washington D. C., OINA inadvertantly soon gained a "pseudo-governmental" public image. OINA went after the "hearts and minds" of American housewives by printing spectacular publications with lots of great recipes, conducting many cooking demonstrations in various cities, and organizing special programs geared primarily towards the lady folks. A smart move it was indeed. By 1937, the once almost exclusively male NSA-OGDA conventions became NSA-OGDA-OINA conventions, where female members now also had become valuable partners in a joint struggle.

Unfortunately, the fate of the northeastern oystermen continued to go from bad to worse. On September 21, 1938, a huge hurricane slammed into the Atlantic Northeast, wreaking unimaginable havoc. It is remembered by some as the "Long Island Express". The States of New York (Long Island), Connecticut, New Hampshire and southern Rhode Island were particularly hard hit. The worst part was that hardly anybody knew this monstrous hurricane was coming. In a matter of hours, 600 people were killed and 3,500 injured. More than 75,000 buildings were damaged. In some areas, the combination of 150-mph wind gusts and a huge tidal surge swept away all traces of civilization. The magnitude of the hurricane rearranged the coastal maps of Long Island and Connecticut. The oystermen were also heavily impacted. Their boats were tossed about like toys, many sustaining serious damage or sinking. The enormous water surge scooped up most of the oysters and scattered them in all directions. The surge combined with heavy rains caused suffocating silting and abruptly led to an extreme reduction of salinity in many estuaries. Millions of oysters in both shallow and deep water were killed.

World War II drew many oystermen and their crews into the military service. Governmental funding for research in the fisheries industry was shifted to the war effort. Some necessary materials (like tin for oyster cans for example) were in short supply. Many shellfish growing areas on the East Coast were rendered unsuitable for harvesting, as national shoreline defences with gunnery ranges were necessary and German submarines were menacing the coast from Long Island clear down to Florida. After the horrible war ended, many oystermen bought military surplus boats (barges, tugs...) and modified them to fit the oyster business. It was peace time again and the economic outlook seemed promising. The stage was set for the second half of the 20th century.