Suffolk County may be declared a “disaster area” by the feds over this year’s dismal oyster crop.
The move would allow the region’s devastated oyster farms to unlock low-interest emergency federal loans to cover millions of dollars in losses as 30% of Suffolk’s oyster haul was decimated by this winter’s historic wallop.
Peter Stein, founder of Peeko Oysters in New Suffolk on the North Fork, has told The Post he “easily [lost] “north of a million oysters” this past winter.
“[My financial] losses are high six figures, low seven figures,” Stein said.
The money loss isn’t only bad news for the sea farmers, it’s lousy for oyster-lovers, too.
“Oysters are going to become a lot more expensive,” warned a rep for Long Island Shucking Truck, a traveling raw-oyster bar based on Long Island.
“Supply and demand — the supply is going to be low, the demand is going to be where it’s at, so you know exactly what is going to happen to the price,” he said in a statement.
Nationally, prices for Eastern oysters have already more than quadrupled since 2000, climbing from roughly $2 per pound to nearly $10 per pound by 2020, according to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries.
On Long Island, those prices have now jumped to roughly $20 per pound, according to multiple local menus, with price hikes predicted to hit the shelves by the summer rush.
The region’s oyster industry is now facing bankruptcy, prompting New York Gov. Kathy Hochul to ask the US Department of Agriculture to issue a Secretarial Disaster Designation for Suffolk County.
“I urge the USDA to take swift action to declare Suffolk County a disaster area and help our growers get the assistance they need to recover and move forward,” Hochul said in a statement.
She noted that weeks of freezing temperatures and icy waters led to a “halt” in operations and damage to equipment that will cost the industry millions of dollars.
As a result, Long Island’s oyster industry collectively lost about a third of its crop — equating to millions of oysters.
An emergency order would open the door for the region’s oyster and kelp farmers to apply for low-interest emergency federal loans — capped at $500,000 — that can be used to replace damaged gear, cover production costs and pay essential living expenses to wipe this year’s losses entirely for roughly 50 farms in the region.
A rep for the USDA said the agency has received Hochul’s request and is working to fast-track resources to its local Farm Service Agency county offices while it reviews the emergency-declaration order.
If the USDA approves the governor’s request, Suffolk farmers would have eight months from the date of the disaster declaration to apply to the relief program.
