TILGHMAN, MARYLAND — On Tilghman’s docks the public oyster season still opens the same way it has for years: hand tong, patent tong and diving on Oct. 1; power and sail dredge on Nov. 1; both closing March 31. Bushel limits are unchanged. That call came after the Statewide Oyster Industry Committee — eleven county watermen’s associations — met in June.

It looks odd next to the biology. It fits the market. The state’s 2025 fall survey, announced March 9, 2026, posted a spat index of 250 per bushel against a long-term average of 42.2 — the highest since 1997. Overall spat distribution ranked second-highest on record since 1985, lower only than 1991, according to the governor’s and DNR release. Biomass was the highest in 33 years. Mortality was the third-lowest since 1985. Those are 2025 survey numbers. The 2026 survey does not publish until spring 2027.

The market told a different story. Harvest data cited in the governor’s February 2026 fishery-disaster request showed a 44 percent reduction compared with the five-year average, and overall dockside value down 66 percent versus the inflation-adjusted five-year average. The Governor asked for federal disaster aid in February. Raising limits into a collapsed price would not fix what watermen are facing.