In the past decade, farmers started growing five different types of oysters in Barnegat Bay-- with a sixth coming in the fall
LAVALLETTE -- For more than five decades, oystermen on Barnegat Bay haven't been able to make a living because of a rapid decline in the population of the mollusks.
But with the demand for half-shell oysters skyrocketing and the advances in farming techniques, Barnegat Bay is once again producing oysters that are making it to market.
Highlighting the bay's role in reinvigorating the local oyster industry, two state lawmakers on Wednesday commended recent legislative efforts to help clean up the bay but also stressed the need for additional environmental measures to build on those gains to restore one of the state's most popular waterways.
"We have made progress to improve the health of the bay, but there is more to do to ensure that we preserve it for generations to come," said Sen. Bob Smith (D-Middlesex). "We know there is great demand for oysters, here and around the world, and we know they provide significant benefits to the bay. We have to build upon the successes we've had to ensure that this and other industries that depend on the bay can grow and thrive and we are committed to doing that."
Smith and Assemblyman John McKeon (D-Essex), both heads of their respective legislative body's environment oversight committees, joined representatives of New Jersey's oyster industry at the Crab's Claw Inn in Lavallette on Wednesday to call attention to the immediate benefits of the bay's improving health.
Barnegat Bay oyster restoration project targeted to go large scale
With them were Scott Lennox and Matthew Gregg, co-founders of Barnegat Oyster Collective, which, among its other duties, distributes 30,000 oysters weekly for six independent oyster farms on the bay.
Lennox and Gregg, co-owners of Forty North Oyster Farm in Little Egg Harbor, are the first to harvest aquaculture oysters in Barnegat Bay in 50 years.
Since they began their operation in 2012, two more growing areas have cropped up on the bay - in waters that have always been pristine. In all, farmers are now producing five different types of oysters in Barnegat Bay, with a sixth coming in the fall.
The collective is preparing to open a new site in the Barnegat Inlet on Long Beach Island that besides being a location for them to grow oysters, will also be a spot for residents to "finish" the process of growing oysters off their docks, a site for Rutgers University to conduct studies and for farmers to lease acreage for their own farms, Lennox said.
"The mission for the collective is to try to bring more products and (get) more people harvesting oysters and other farmed shellfish from the Barnegat Bay," Lennox said.
As of 2013, there were 19 oyster farms in New Jersey, representing $7.96 million in sales for that year, said Jeff Wolfe, a spokesman for the state Department of Agriculture. That puts New Jersey third among the Eastern states and eighth in the country, he said.
The number of farms, however, has increased by a few since then, though the department didn't immediately have the most figures, he said.
Lennox attributed the increased oyster farming in the bay to the growth in demand for half-shell oysters and high-tech improvements in aquaculture techniques.
"There's an incredible wealth of knowledge and skills of people in and around this area that come from family trees filled with bay men and women who can no longer support themselves entirely from the bay," he said. "But we feel that aquaculture provides that opportunity to bring those people back to the bay."
Forty North's first harvest in 2012 yielded 300 oysters. Then Hurricane Sandy hit, and Lennox and Gregg had to rebuild their operation, which they moved from Mantoloking to Little Egg Harbor. By last year, they were harvesting 350,000 oysters, Gregg said. This year, they hope to nearly double that, he said.
"The oyster industry is a prime example of how a clean bay is vital to our efforts to create jobs and economic development," McKeon said. "Protecting our environment and supporting business can and should go hand-in-hand."
Ironically, until a few months ago, Forty North couldn't get a distribution foothold in the Barnegat Bay area. Then Lennox and Gregg saw Craig Korb, chef at the Crab's Claw, speaking at an agriculture convention in Atlantic City.
They brought a bag of oysters to the restaurant for Korb to sample, and he was hooked.
Korb said the restaurant has traditionally served oysters, first from New England then more recently from the Delaware Bay.
Now he's sold on Forty North and wants to feature other Barnegat Bay oysters on the menu.
"We're trying to use more and more of Matt and Scott's oysters. We really want to focus in on that in the summer time being they're right from our own backyard," said Korb, who's known for using locally grown products for his dishes.
He estimated he'll probably serve between 600 and 800 oysters a week in the summer.
Brick Wenzel, director of the Ocean County Farm bureau, said 22,000 acres are dedicated to aquaculture in New Jersey.
"Barnegat Bay is the largest body of water in the state of New Jersey so the expansion of aquaculture is very important to Ocean County and the farming community," he said.
While the northern section of the bay has been stressed from pollution and eutrophication, the southern portion of the bay, where most of the oysters are grown, hasn't experienced those struggles to the same degree.
Five years ago, New Jersey implemented a fertilizer law - the strongest in the country, that reduces the content of nitrogen in fertilizers, requires fertilizer to be slow-release and sets certain buffers from property lines.
The state legislature also passed a measure that Gov. Chris Christie signed requiring the restoration of soil density at construction sites to pre-construction levels to help improve absorption of storm water and discourage rapid runoff into waterways.
Although that measure was passed six years ago, the state Department of Agriculture has not yet developed restoration standards yet.
Christie vetoed legislation that would have set total maximum daily loads of pollution, including nitrogen, allowed in waterways.
Christie also vetoed a measure establishing storm water utilities that would be responsible for collecting fees from owners of large commercial properties. Those fees would be used to help pay for the more than 2,000 malfunctioning storm water basins around the Barnegat Bay.
MaryAnn Spoto may be reached at mspoto@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @MaryAnnSpoto. Find NJ.com on Facebook.