Wildlife regulations aren’t the only issue. “Are they trying to push out the oyster industry?”Īfter decades-long declines in the state’s finfish, shrimp, and crab industries, Texas’ oyster fishers are among the last coastal fishers still standing. “Are they just going to keep closing?” Frances asked. Out of concern for these previously untouched reefs, which serve as important nursery habitats for fish, Parks and Wildlife officials recently proposed closing them permanently to serve as wildlife sanctuaries. The few oyster fishers still trying to eke out a harvest this year have clustered in small areas-like Ayres, Carlos, and Mesquite Bays near Rockport-putting pressure on oyster reefs that haven’t been fished much in the past. Most of the state’s roughly 500 licensed oyster boats have already docked for the season. The reefs that remain open are sparsely populated. But by the end of January this year, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department had closed 26 of the state’s 34 public oyster reefs to harvesters, citing declines in the number of larger, market-sized oysters turning up in routine monthly counts. Texas’ commercial oyster harvest season normally lasts from November through April. Their 15-year-old daughter has a good head for business, Frances said, and may also go into oysters-but only if the business stays profitable.

He hopes his 5-year-old son will carry the tradition into a fifth generation. On the Jurisich side, Johny is part of the fourth generation to go into oyster fishing. They married in 2004 and today have three children.

The couple started dating in high school.

In fact, Frances’ father, Misho Ivic, is Johny’s godfather, and the shucking house that Frances’ mother, Franka Ivic, founded in the unincorporated Galveston County area of San Leon is just 12 miles from the Jurisich dock in Texas City. Both come from oyster fishing families that immigrated from the same small village in Croatia to Louisiana’s Gulf Coast, then west to Texas.

People often ask if Frances and Johny Jurisich had an arranged marriage, the couple jokes.

What is an oyster dredge made of