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This is a long but very interesting article. I began to skim near the end, but it’s worth at least cruising through to get an idea of how ecosystems are integrated systems not an aggregation of industries or independent habitats and organisms. Human caused inputs of water, silt and various types of pollutants are destroying the most productive native habitats on earth— estuaries.
I know it’s Mississippi, but it just seems that the state has handled this entirely the wrong way and not relied on the people who know how to farm oysters who should have been allowed input along with other actual experts. Wasted money, wasted time, and very little to show for it as a result.
I wish these people would get a clue and come into the 21st century.
Like so many other ecosystems, the notion that estuarine habitats can be rehabilitated without making any hard choices about industry and environmental protection are mostly astroturf.
Here in the Pacific Northwest agencies pretend that they can recover endangered Salmon species without affecting salmon-killing dams, rearing-stream damaging forest practices, or commercial and sport-fishing. Salmon numbers continue to decline and corporate America continues to blame Sea Lions, cormorants and Caspian Tern (they took care of the Indigenous folk when they built the Dalles Dam).
It seems to me this is another example, like vaccination, showing the effect of Republican politicians dissing science just because it easier to diss science than understand it.
Plus, it gives Republicans another gripe.
Why hasn’t (insert name) done anything about oysters They’re destroying our way of life
Mississippi needs a Democratic legislature. Vote for it!
No problem, the best oysters in the world come from the Chincoteague Bay, bordering Maryland and Virginia. The waters in the bay are very salty and give the oysters a distinctive taste. The water is so good that people dredge immature oysters in the Chesapeake Bay and take them to Chincoteague Bay to “season” them over a couple of weeks.
The people in Mississippi can just come to the Eastern Shore of Maryland and Virginia and buy better oysters than they’ll ever produce.
As of 1994 a research paper concluded that oyster production in the Chesapeake Bay had declined by a factory of 50 since the beginning of the twentieth century. Over-harvesting, pollution, habitat loss, and disease were the main reasons. In terms of the watermen and canneries who made their living from this harvest a whole industry was almost wiped out
And it’s all thanks to what became a long, regional, bipartisan effort that began with the Clean Water Act, which was introduced by Senator Edmund Muskie. Opposed by President Nixon, the Democratic Congress overrode his veto. Mississippi needs to elect Democrats.
Democrats can make oysters rise from the dead ; - )
Good article, but lacks a picture of the actual area being discussed:
For the tl;dr version:
Mississippi oysters are dying (dead) due to:
2005: Hurricane Katrina (90% of reefs damaged or destroyed)
2011: BP Gulf spill disaster
2011: Spillway opening to reduce Mississippi River flooding (85% oyster death)
2016: Unexplained low oxygen (hypoxia) event
2019: Another spillway opening to reduce Mississippi River flooding (appears to be near 100% oyster death)
Basically, the interaction of climate change and poor human management. Its not going to change unless 1) we get serious about climate change and 2) we find a better way to manage Mississippi river flooding beyond dumping it into Lake Ponchartrain/Mississippi Sound (therefore, turning the Sound into a temporary freshwater lake).
I have doubts that Republicans will try on either, so the local oyster fisherman probably should cut their losses and get out of the business now (which the smarter ones have apparently been doing).
In the 1920’s and going back centuries New York City was one of the world’s great oyster capitals, exporting millions of them across the country and around the globe. They were sold from street stands, saloons and barges. New Yorkers of all social classes could enjoy them, whether raw, roasted, pickled, fried, or in chowders, sauces and stews.
The Chattahoochee River passes through Atlanta on its way to the Gulf. Below the dam at Chattahoochee Florida, it is called the Apalachicola river. I grew up eating oysters at shacks along U.S 98 near Apalachicola. Freshwater flow into the estuary created a level of salinity that supported excellent oysters in large quantities. The uncontrolled urban sprawl of Atlanta eventually reduced freshwater flow so much it killed the Apalachicola oyster, virtually all of them. I’ve heard there are a few oyster farms in the estuary now, but they are growing a different oyster. To my knowledge, I’ve never tried a “new” Apalachicola oyster, but I’ve learned to love farm-raised cold water oysters.
Another factor was the BP oil spill. Although the spill did not reach Apalachicola Bay, there was much fear that it would, so the state allowed and encouraged the over-harvesting of the Bay, figuring that all the oysters would be killed by the oil spill anyway. Combine that with the reduced freshwater from the river which changed the salinity of the Bay, and now the Bay is closed indefinitely to oyster harvesting while attempts to regenerate the beds are ongoing.
Chincoteague Bay oysters sure are good, however oysters from the lower eastern shore where the salinity is about 2/3 that of seawater are pretty fantastic as well. Maybe even better in some applications.
It’s nice that the army corpse of engineers have funded dredging for the first time in lord knows how long on the eastern shore, including some at chincoteague.
Where we are in Deep Creek I hope that will make a big difference for both oysters and navigation. As is now we have about 3-4 feet of silt, over similar depth of firmer marl, over deep white sand on the lee side of our shoreline.
I hear oyster production was big here with several oyster houses until they stopped dredging in the ‘50’s.
In Chapelle’s book on Skipjacks (for sale at Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum) he covers the shifting of commercial oyster production from NY and NJ to the Chesapeake due to over harvesting up north. It’s a good story involving pirates and poaching and what he termed “oyster wars”.