Maryland officials say they are gathering the data needed to pursue federal disaster aid for the state’s struggling oyster industry, as watermen and Eastern Shore lawmakers press for relief under both the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s fishery disaster process and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

For weeks, lawmakers and watermen have called for help, citing market conditions described as among the worst in recent memory, along with a historically cold winter and complications from the Potomac River sewage spill that have devastated the once-robust Maryland oyster industry.

At a meeting of the General Assembly’s Eastern Shore Delegation on Friday, Robert T. Brown, president of the Maryland Watermen’s Association, called oysters “the backbone of the industry.”

“Just about anybody who’s in the seafood industry oysters a certain amount,” he said. “They crab most of the season, but they’ll oyster a little bit during the winter. It’s just a way of life that has been for years. It’s our heritage.”

Brown said the problem isn’t supply but buyers. A steep dropoff was clear as early as Thanksgiving, he said.

“When Thanksgiving came and Christmas, our markets just fell apart,” he said. “I started oystering back in the ’60s, and in Christmas, you never could catch enough … for some reason, we got a generation of people that’s not eating oysters.”

Maryland Department of Natural Resources Secretary Josh Kurtz said the state has already begun working with NOAA on a potential fishery disaster declaration because of the market decline. Kurtz described a Feb. 4 meeting with NOAA’s fisheries disaster team after lawmakers and watermen asked the state to pursue federal help.

“When we do a disaster declaration, there are several thresholds we have to meet,” Kurtz said.

Kurtz said NOAA guidance has pushed the state toward a bushel-based calculation rather than market value and that DNR staff have been compiling buy-ticket data to determine whether Maryland can meet the threshold for federal review.

“There’s a 35% threshold you have to get over for them to consider it,” he said.

Kurtz said state officials are still waiting on additional buy tickets that typically arrive at the end of the season, complicating the timeline.

“I do think the issue we’re gonna have with a disaster declaration is that we won’t have all of the ticket returns until a couple months, a couple weeks from now,” he said, adding that the state still plans to communicate with NOAA as more data comes in.

At the same time, Eastern Shore lawmakers urged the administration to weigh disaster relief under the Stafford Act, which operates through FEMA, and asked whether the state could pursue both pathways at once. Republican Sen. Johnny Mautz IV asked whether seeking one type of relief could block the other. Kurtz said the state is checking.

“We’ve asked our attorneys to triple-check that,” Kurtz said. “But our initial reading is that we would not undermine them – that doing NOAA would not undermine FEMA and vice versa.”

The market collapse — paired with weeks of ice that limited fishing — has fueled calls for immediate relief and a more aggressive marketing push ahead of next season. Officials announced on Thursday emergency rule changes extending the oyster season by two weeks.

Maryland Department of Agriculture marketing officials told lawmakers they are expanding promotional efforts for wild-caught oysters, including a February campaign and a push at a major industry expo.

Lawmakers and watermen also focused on public messaging following the massive Potomac River sewage spill — an issue that has drawn sharp political crossfire between President Donald Trump and Gov. Wes Moore in recent days. During the delegation meeting, Mautz referenced the public feud while urging faster action.

“I’ve seen the dialogue between the governor and the president going back and forth. I don’t really care who asked for it,” Mautz said.

Several speakers warned that fear and confusion tied to the Potomac spill have intensified market problems, even for oysters harvested far from the closure area.

Eastern Shore Republican Del. Jay Jacobs urged the administration to publicly reassure Marylanders. He said at a Waterman’s Caucus meeting last week there was “a very strong recommendation” to get Moore and Kurtz on camera eating Maryland oysters.

Kurtz leaned into the idea.

“I would be glad to eat as many oysters as you would like me to do on television,” he said. “That is not a heavy ask for me in any way.”

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