"As environmental forces make fishing and harvesting more costly, the price of once-everyday fish has ballooned."
"David Leck, who buys the oysters for Elliott’s Oyster House in Seattle, loves the mellow finish of Baywater Sweet oysters and the metallic tang of tiny Olympias, but he’s most partial to oysters he remembers from growing up.
His parents used to drive him a few hours west to Hood Canal, where he would harvest them from the beach and shuck them with a screwdriver.
“There were so many oysters out in the places where now they’re so scarce,” he said. “You couldn’t walk without oysters everywhere.”
His family also dug for clams, threw out crab pots and fished for salmon, but you can’t really live that way now, he said. Summers are warmer. More people are going after fewer fish and shellfish."
Julia O’Malley reports for the New York Times October 13, 2026.
