Roundup: Session props up commercial seafood … Ruston peaches small but still tasty for festival

Oyster protection: During the regular legislative session’s waning hours Monday, lawmakers approved a last-minute provision that could go a long way towards helping Louisiana’s embattled oyster farmers make it though what promises to be the most onerous challenge the industry has ever experienced. Annual payments on oyster leases must be made to the state at the end of the year, but due to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, practically all leased areas have been shut down. To get around the problem, lawmakers attached a rider to House Bill 545 by Rep. Damon Baldone, D-Houma; the rider would suspend the end-of-year payment until August 2011 so the Legislature can review the issue when it meets again next year. You can read the full version of this story here. A good crop: Ruston-area peach growers say a dry spring left peaches smaller and later than usual, but that there’s a good, sweet crop for the 60th peach festival. Louie Thompson Jr. estimates that his peaches are about three-quarters the usual size because the weather’s been so hot and dry. He and Joe Mitcham of Ruston say those weather conditions also cause the sugars to be concentrated, so the peaches are very sweet. Nancy Bergeron of the Ruston-Lincoln Chamber of Commerce says they’re among four area growers who will be selling fresh peaches at the festival this Saturday and Sunday.