OYSTER REEFS, PUBLIC TRUST, AND THE COMMON GOOD

Along the Mississippi Gulf Coast, a dispute has risen from the waters. The state has moved to lease most of its public oyster reefs to private businesses, hoping to restore a resource badly damaged by storms, oil spills, and the opening of the Bonnet Carré Spillway in 2019. For local fishermen, however, the plan feels like a betrayal. Generations have relied on these reefs for their livelihood. Now they fear losing access to what has always been part of the public trust.

Why Oyster Reefs Matter
Oyster reefs are vital to coastal life. A single oyster filters gallons of water each day, cleaning the Sound and allowing other plants and animals to thrive. Reefs act as natural barriers, protecting marshes from erosion. They are also rich habitats, sheltering shrimp, fish, and crabs. For centuries they sustained the families and seafood traditions of the Gulf Coast.

But repeated blows have taken their toll. Hurricanes have buried reefs under silt. The BP oil spill poisoned them. The 2019 opening of the spillway sent torrents of fresh water into the Sound, killing more than ninety percent of Mississippi’s oysters. By the early 2020s the reefs were shadows of their former selves.

The State’s Leasing Plan
Faced with expensive restoration efforts, Mississippi lawmakers passed a 2024 law allowing up to eighty percent of public reefs to be leased. Private companies could plant shells, seed spat, and manage harvests. Officials argued this would speed recovery and reduce taxpayer burden.

Fishermen, however, see the plan as shutting them out. Families, including my grandfather and uncle, that had harvested oysters for generations now risk being excluded from waters that were once open to all. Many argue that privatization place profit ahead of community.

Pushback and Lawsuit
In May 2025, more than twenty fishermen joined a lawsuit challenging the law. They claimed the process lacked transparency, violated the state constitution, and unfairly favored wealthy leaseholders. Local governments soon backed them. The city of Pass Christian passed a resolution opposing the plan. In August 2025 a chancery court judge ruled the leasing law unconstitutional and blocked its implementation. The state has signaled it will appeal, so the future remains uncertain, at least for 30 days.

A Catholic Social Teaching Perspective
​Catholic social teaching offers a lens for understanding what is at stake.

Creation as gift. The reefs are not merely resources, but part of God’s creation entrusted to humanity. To restore them is to honor that gift. To treat them only as commodities is to forget their deeper purpose.

The common good. The Church teaches that the goods of the earth are meant for all. Private property has a place, but it is always secondary to universal access. Turning most reefs over to private leaseholders risks undermining the common good.

The dignity of work.
For Gulf Coast families—Croatian, Vietnamese, African American, and others—oyster harvesting is more than a paycheck. It is participation in God’s ongoing creation. If laws exclude small harvesters in favor of large companies, the dignity of their work is diminished.

Subsidiarity and participation. Decisions should be made with, not above, the people most affected. Many fishermen say their voices were ignored. True stewardship requires real consultation and shared decision-making, not burying the public meeting announcements, and not removing far from their participation the permission of accountants to make the rules.

Solidarity. The Church calls for a preference for the poor and vulnerable. In this case, those most at risk are small-scale harvesters. Solidarity means standing with them and resisting systems that push them aside.

A Better Path
A Catholic vision forward would blend ecological duty with social justice. Reefs must be restored, but not at the expense of the people who have built their lives around them, for generations--even 200 years. Public stewardship, informed by science and guided by genuine participation, offers the way. Private investment can help, but it must serve the community rather than control it.

The reefs of Mississippi are more than oyster beds. They are living parables of God’s generosity. If they are restored in a way that honors both creation and community, they will once again bless all, not only the few.

I know of the intelligent men, the principles involved in this matter. I can't imagine it's beyond the pale that they couldn't gather and arrive at a solution that satisfies the efficient restoration of the reefs, the private interests who could receive a return on investment, and the reefs staying in control of the fishermen and the public trust. Let's pray they do.