Town selectmen approved a request from the shellfish committee to add personnel hours, but balked at adding an entirely new employee to the department.

Rick Karney had a message for diners at a Slow Food event this week: Eat more oysters.

“Its’ an industry that cleans the water, creates a sustainable food product and creates habitat,” said the longtime director of the Martha’s Vineyard Shellfish Group. “In order for this industry to flourish, we have to put more in . . . as you eat your oysters tonight, they’re not only good but they’re doing a good thing for the environment.”

In celebration of the return of Katama Bay oysters, Slow Food Martha’s Vineyard and Martha’s Vineyard shellfishermen are collaborating to bring a night of learning about oyster farming and a little oyster tasting on Oct. 22.

Katama Bay oyster farms reopened for business last Saturday, about three and a half weeks after the area was closed to harvesting because it was linked to cases of Vibrio bacteria.

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health and the Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game, Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) announced the reopening Friday afternoon, Oct. 4. The 12 independent oyster farms operating on Katama Bay were back to business Saturday at dawn.

As I joined the line waiting to enter the meeting room, I greeted and joked with some of the oyster growers in a manner customary among close friends. Like old friends coming together at a funeral, our jolly small talk denied the seriousness of the occasion.

With Katama Bay closed for business because of Vibrio parahaemolyticus (Vp), Edgartown oyster farmers Tuesday pressed for a speedy resolution to an investigation and testing regimen under way before a delegation of high-ranking state officials Tuesday.

At a shellfish committee meeting that day, farmers discussed sticking together and going to extra lengths to guard against future closures.