C6 | Friday, February 26, 2021 | ExpressNews.com |San Antonio Express-News CALENDAR TODAY-SUNDAY Texas Parks & Wildlife Depart- ment: Volunteers needed for annual Texas Abandoned Crab Trap Removal Program. Numerous drop-off locations along the coast. Go to tpwd.texas.gov, click the media tab then news releas- es, call Holly Grand, 361-825-3993, or email [email protected]. Houston Safari Club: Annual Worldwide Hunting Expo & Conven- tion, George R. Brown Convention Center, Houston. Speakers, seminars, outfitters and gear. Click on houstonsafariclub.org. SATURDAY-SUNDAY Port Aransas Chamber of Com- merce: In lieu of the annual Whooping Crane Festival which has been can- celed because of the pandemic, a series of guided Wings of Winter Walking Tours will be conducted. Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center, 9-11 a.m. Also Sunday, 10 a.m.-non; Feb. 27, 9-11 a.m.; and Feb. 28,10 a.m.- noon. Free. To register, click on whoopingcranefestival.org. MARCH 5-6 Texas Trophy Hunters Associa- tion: 11th annual TTHA Bucks and BBQ Cook-Off, National Shooting Complex. Brisket, pork spare ribs, chicken, beans, wild game and showmanship awards. Sanctioned by International Barbeque Cookers Association. Shoot- ing sports, vendors. Click on ttha.com, call 800-800-3207 or email [email protected]. MARCH 6-7 Texas Outdoor Family: Hands-on basics of camping for those with little or no experience with tent, gear pro- Brett Coomer /Staff photographer vided, Bastrop State Park. $75 for Texas oyster season opened Nov. 1 and runs through April 30. Oyster farmers are allowed to harvest at 2½ inches. family of up to six. Call 512-389-8903 or email [email protected]. MARCH 6 Mitchell Lake Audubon Center: Oyster farming gains momentum Coastal Shorebirds: World Travelers, Winter Texans, an online workshop conducted by birding enthusiast Patsy By Matt Wyatt ral oyster production, which is Bar. often shallow, wind-driven, mud- Inglet, 10-11 a.m. $5. Register at STAFF WRITER only allowed during certain “One of the things I’m most flat types that can get blown out mitchelllake.audubon.org. months of the year,” said Kaplan. proud of in my career is that we by North winds and other envi- MARCH 8-10 The trailblazers of Texas’ Texas oyster season opened Nov. did that,” Lomax said. ronmental obstacles. Cibolo Nature Center & Farm: fledgling oyster mariculture 1and will run through April 30. Kaplan, Lomax and the bud- Marketing will also be a con- Spring Break Camp for ages 5-12, 140 industry are inching closer to Oyster farmers will also be al- ding group of Texas commercial siderable hurdle. Texas oysters City Park Road, Boerne. 9 a.m.-1:30 establishing farms in the state’s lowed to harvest at 2½ inches, oyster farmers will lean on the do not yet have the consumer p.m. daily. Includes survival basics, bay systems. while wild oysters are considered knowledge and experience of recognition attached to East swimming and fishing in the Cibolo Creek and bird identification. $165. For Hannah Kaplan, a 30-year-old legal at 3. Fox, who along with now-retired Coast oysters, which sell at a more information, email Houston native, quit her full-time Down the coast in Corpus TPWD deputy director of coastal higher price. Fox said Texas [email protected], call 830-249-4616 job several months ago to focus Christi, well-known restaurant fisheries Lance Robinson helped oyster farmers will have to be or click on cibolo.org/calendar. on launching an oyster farm in owner Brad Lomax will be able spearhead the creation of this creative in selling their wares to MARCH 10 East Galveston Bay. She was the to enhance his business with the industry. the restaurants that will push Mitchell Lake Audubon Center: first person to submit an applica- ability to bring oysters directly “I’d gotten a little bit fed up them. Each bay system is differ- Intro to Native Plants for Birds, online tion to Texas Parks and Wildlife from farm to table and cut out with the fact that Texas was ent and can produce a unique workshop, 6-7:30 p.m. Free. 10-11 a.m. Department after the agency laid the middleman. really the only state in the nation taste, shape and brand. $5. Registration required at mitchell- the framework for the industry Lomax says he sells 600,000 with a coastline that didn’t have “It’s no longer that you’re just lake.audubon.org/events. last year. oysters a year between his Water an oyster aquaculture industry,” the farmer, you also have to be MARCH 18 “There’s pros and cons to Street Oyster Bar and Executive said Fox, who can be considered the entrepreneur. You have to be Cibolo Nature Center & Farm: being the first,” Kaplan said. Surf Club. Those oysters are the father of Texas oyster farm- your own marketing agent and Introduction to Birding for Adults, “But it’s really exciting to be currently a mixture of wild- ing. you have to hustle,” Fox said. online workshop 6-8 p.m. conducted the first to submit an application caught from Aransas Bay and The professor runs two re- With the serpentine permit- by Audubon birders Tom and Patsy Inglet. $5. For more information, and have this amazing learning farm-raised from out of state. search farms, one in Copano Bay ting process, site and gear selec- contact Laurie Brown, 830-388-7680 experience with this industry.” He is planning to meet that and the other in Matagorda. He is tion and finding buyers out of the or [email protected]. To register, click Kaplan is embracing the chal- demand in the future with float- currently developing a site suit- way, the day-to-day work itself is on cibolo.org/calendar. lenges that come with being a ing cages on an eight-acre site in ability map for Copano Bay in also not a walk in the park. Oys- MARCH 19 groundbreaker. She is jumping Copano Bay. Lomax is hoping to conjunction with Texas Sea ter farms need constant manage- Coastal Conservation Associa- into this industry without any harvest his first batch around this Grant, creating a workforce de- ment and supervision. tion: Annual San Antonio Chapter prior experience in mariculture time next year. velopment facility and renovat- “It’s real hard work. You’re Hooked on Clays sporting clays shoot, but is leaning on members of the Aside from supplying his own ing a seed hatchery near Pala- dealing with a living organism… check-in 11:30 a.m., National Shooting Complex, 5931 Roft Road. Lunch, small, tight-knit community of oysters for Water Street, Lomax cios. Fox also works with the it doesn’t take off like you might prizes, raffles. Click on ccatexas.org. those building this industry and is anxious to brand and market Harte Research Institute. He is a want to take off on the week- her father, Joe, who has experi- his product up and down the busy man, to say the least. end,” said Fox. MARCH 20-21 ence in starting businesses, to coast. He already has a name The creation of a seed hatch- Despite these challenges that Texas Outdoor Family: Hands-on learn as she goes. licensed that pays homage to his ery in Texas will be instrumental Texas oyster farming pioneers basics of camping for those with little or no experience with tent, gear pro- “I believe the biggest obstacle establishment: O-Bar Ranch. to the future success of the in- face, the advantages over the vided, Palmetto State Park. $75 for will be successfully growing the “The branding opportunities dustry. Currently, oyster farmers wild-caught oyster market are family of up to six. Call 512-389-8903 first round of oyster spat we put are endless,” said Lomax, adding would have to send brood stock still immense. Farmers can opti- or email [email protected]. in the water,” said Kaplan, adding that the rich history of the re- from their bay systems to other mize their products with single, MARCH 24-25 she is planning to use two differ- gion, from the Karankawa Native states to be spawned. half-shell oysters that sell for a Texas Parks & Wildlife Commis- ent types of equipment at first to American tribe to 17th century That is not the only challenge, higher price than clumps har- sion: Regular meeting, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., figure out what works best. French explorer La Salle and though. The start-up process is vested off reefs. Oyster farmers TPWD headquarters, 4200 Smith “Overall, we have a plan in beyond, provide those unique arduous, involving multiple get to sleep in their own beds, School Road, Austin. Click on place for day-to-day operations, branding opportunities. permits from multiple agencies and they know exactly where tpwd.texas.gov. but the first round of spat will be Lomax aims to continue edu- and the actual selection of sites their handiwork is at all times. MARCH 24 atest on us to determine what cating his customers on a prod- for these farms can be problem- The costs associated with boats Texas Parks & Wildlife Depart- really works best for the growth uct he considers superior to the atic. There is a litany of param- and fuel will be minimized, all ment: Deadline for public comment of the oysters.” wild-caught version on the half- eters, such as keeping farms out while helping the environment on proposed changes to freshwater and saltwater fishing regulations Kaplan said the sustainability shell market. Farm-raised oysters of the proximity of oil and gas with an oyster that can be pro- including changes to length and bag aspect of oyster farming appeals are cleaner, deeper-cut, better operations, other oyster reefs, duced year-round and at a small- limits for blue and channel catfish to her.