In what may very well be a case of water pollution and/or ocean acidification, South Carolina’s supply of healthy oysters have been depleting for the last 20 years.
DHEC has already closed about 1/3 of the state’s 3,000 acres of oyster beds to harvesting because of pollution.
On top of that, commercial fishermen take about 100,000 bushels a year, SCDNR biologist and SCORE manager, Nancy Hadley said. SCDNR usually replants about 1/2 that much, using revenues from saltwater fishing licenses and volunteer help through SCORE (the South Carolina Oyster Restoration and Enhancement Program), but it’s necessary to do this and more to help oysters thrive in nature.
“We’ve got 20 years of not quite enough being replanted every year… Each little deficit might not be all that much, but over 20 years, we are a bit behind… so we need to play some catch-up.”
– Nancy Hadley.
SCDNR hopes to get a $1 million grant from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act so it can restore about 9 acres of oyster reefs along the South Carolina coast, but that proposal is #77 among R-Okla. Sen. Tom Coburn’s list of the 100 worst examples of waste amongst stimulus projects – fortunately for us, it was the only S.C. project on his list!
This little guy nailed it on the head!
South Carolina isn’t the only area with depleting oysters though – although as much as we eat, that may have something to do with it too! Out West, Pacific wild oysters haven’t successfully reproduced since 2004.
They suspect water that rises from deep in the Pacific Ocean — icy seawater that surges into Willapa Bay, WA. and gets pumped into seaside hatcheries — may be corrosive enough to kill baby oysters. If carbon dioxide is the culprit dramatically affecting the ocean, it’s one more incentive for us to do something now to protect our environment and our planet’s healthy future.
So in the end, the goal of having sustainable oyster reefs needs to be looked at more closely, because the question is, “what actually caused the oysters to start dying off?” – was it global warming, ocean acidification, pollution, or something else?
A stranded pygmy sperm whale on Sullivan’s Island.
Credit: NOAA
Speaking of water pollution and debris in the ocean, just the other day a pygmy whale and her calf were stranded on the beach – they died because they mistook a plastic bag that somebody haphazardly threw in the water as food, a tragic mistake they do quite often according to SCDNR officials.
Please be considerate and put trash in it’s proper receptacles!
Related Post(s)
Leave a comment
