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Texas Oyster Tonging in 1933

Picture by: Unknown Picture taken on: April 3rd, 2011

Tags: oysters tongs texas southeast

Hand Tonging is a back breaking way to harvest oysters. The oysterman stands up on the washboards (sides of boat) and works at opening and closing until the basket is full, then hand over hand brings the tongs to the surface. The culler (another waterman) sorts out the oysters and puts the legal size oysters in the boat. He then scrapes the shells and little oysters over the side to settle back down on the oyster bed.