Louisiana Oyster Season Facing Crisis: Fisherfamilies in Cameron, LA, Cite Major Die Off from Dredging and Dumping from Shipping, Refinery and LNG projects.
CAMERON, LA — As the West Cove oyster season opened on November 1, fishermen in Cameron Parish faced a grim reality: the last remaining seafood dock, KT Seafood, is closed. With nowhere to sell their catch — and ongoing uncertainty about the safety of local oysters after a dredge disaster and major die-offs following mass buildout of LNG terminals — harvesters and advocates are calling for immediate transparency and reform in how the Calcasieu River and Lake are managed.
“We are living with the compounded mistakes of generations — dredging, dumping, and ignoring the natural rhythms that sustain life here,” said Alyssa Portaro, Executive Director of Habitat Recovery Project, which supports local fishermen through the Fisherfamily Advisory Council for Tradition and Stewardship (FACTS). “It’s time to honor the migrations that provide our food and fisheries economy. The multigenerational fisherfamilies have their hands on the pulse of the Calcasieu, and they have been calling out for necessary, immediate change.”
The fisherfamilies’ warning echoes long-standing sentiment from coastal guides and elder fisherfolk who have witnessed the slow collapse of the Calcasieu Estuary. Decades of ship channel expansion, spoil dumping, and saltwater intrusion have steadily smothered reefs in mud and stripped away the habitat that once supported thriving fisheries.
"[The oysters] didn’t die because we caught all of them; they died because of man’s manipulation of their environment," said Captain Nick Poe, former Calcasieu Lake fishing guide, in 2019. "They died because of sedimentation. If the oysters are dying, then the estuary is in decline. The Oysters are dying!"
Industry spokespeople often claim they are engaged in "coastal restoration" to describe invasive and dangerous activities in the region. “‘Coastal restoration’ is a way to make pumping mud into an area and killing it sound less destructive,” said Captain Justin Lyons, fishing and hunting guide, and former dredge industry operator. “Our marsh acreage shrinks every time they do one of these projects, and the marsh is our hatchery. Silt can be to an oyster what crude oil is to a duck. I’ve seen so many comments on posts about the spill saying, ‘It’s just mud, what’s it hurting in a lake?’ And that’s the problem. It sounds harmless to people that don’t understand how harmful it is to our oysters, which are the lifeblood of this estuary.”
The Habitat Recovery Project and FACTS are demanding that the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, Wildlife & Fisheries, and the Port of Cameron:
Release transparent, up-to-date testing of Calcasieu River water and seafood quality.
Formally include fishermen in restoration and monitoring decisions.
“Fifteen to twenty years ago, when the north wind blew the tide out and exposed the surface underneath, it was solid reefs that grew high on top of prior reefs. Now, when that happens, you just see mud. As the underlying reefs get covered in silt, they die, decompose, and become buried, where nothing has a chance to grow on that foundation. West Cove, Big Lake, Long Point Lake, Joe's Cove - all mostly dead,” said Darren Mitchell, Cameron Parish Fisherman and Conservationist. “The only chance it could have at survival is to slow the unnatural flow of silt to a manageable rate. It’s a combination of the ships and dredging. What you see in those aerial videos [of silt in Calcasieu Lake] is nothing new. We’ve watched it for over ten years, and it’s gotten worse each year.”
“This is about stewardship. Our people have been raising the alarm for years. We can’t afford another generation of bureaucratic delay while the estuary dies beneath us. Fishermen are ready to lead with science, tradition, and care for our coast,” said Cameron Oysterman John Thompson, who is 74 years old, has been oystering since he was 16 years old.
“When the oysters die, the whole system dies,” Multigenerational Oysterman, Captain Ray Mallett, summarized. He continued, “We’ve watched it happen for generations: now we are demanding the cycle stop, so we can continue to feed our communities safe, delicious, local wild oysters.”
A press conference took place on Saturday, November 1, at 10:00 a.m. in Cameron, followed by a planning session on next steps for restoration, data transparency, and Time-of-Year protections.
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Historical Context: A Century of Decline on the Calcasieu
For more than 150 years, the Calcasieu Estuary has been reshaped — and slowly strangled — by dredging and industrial expansion.
1874: The Calcasieu Ship Channel was first cut to just 5 feet deep, straightening the river’s curves and disturbing natural sediment flows.
1941: The channel deepened to 30 feet, allowing saltwater to invade freshwater cypress stands — an early death knell for the region’s balance of habitats.
1968: Expansion to a 40-foot depth brought uncontained spoil dumping that wiped out nearly every oyster in the estuary. From that point forward, the lake has been smothered in silt and salt.
Today: The Calcasieu Channel moves millions of tons of industrial cargo, fuels refineries and LNG terminals, and yet — fishermen say — it no longer sustains life as it once did.
Local guides and scientists have long warned that mud, not overfishing, has been the silent killer.
Sediment from dredging and spoil disposal covers oyster reefs, suffocating the larvae that form the foundation of the estuarine food web — from oysters to shrimp to speckled trout.
In 1981, Cameron ranked #1 in U.S. commercial fish landings. By 2017, it had fallen off the national list entirely