Mussels cook in California heatwave while 100% of all oysters come up dead in the Gulf of Mexici

Heatwave cooks mussels in shells along a 150 mile stretch of northern Californian coastline: Largest die-off of mussels in at least 15 years


theBig Wobble,
30 June, 2019



Yesterday The Big Wobble posted: Oyster fishermen in the Gulf Of Mexico are saying 100 per cent of what they dredge up is coming up dead, which is not only a serious hit to their livelihoods but could have lasting impacts for years to come.
Today a report in the Guardian claims, thousands of dead mussels, their shells gaping and scorched and their meats thoroughly cooked along a 150 mile stretch of northern Californian coastline.
According to the Guardian, a record-breaking June heatwave apparently caused the largest die-off of mussels in at least 15 years at Bodega Head, a small headland on the northern California bay, with a similar mass mussel deaths at various beaches across roughly 150 miles of coastline.
While the people who flocked to the Pacific to enjoy a rare 80F beach day soaked up the sun, so did the mussel beds – where the rock-bound molluscs could have been experiencing temperatures above 100F at low tide, literally roasting in their shells.
In 2011 reports from scientists revealed starfish were melting, and shellfish populations were breaking down from Alaska all the way down to Mexico.
The die-off affects the rest of the seashore ecosystem.
“Mussels are known as a foundation species.
The equivalent is the trees in a forest – they provide shelter and habitat for a lot of animals, so when you impact that core habitat it ripples throughout the rest of the system.

Oyster fishermen claim 100 per cent of what they dredge up is dead around Biloxi, Louisiana due to yet another deadly algae bloom



https://www.thebigwobble.org/2019/06/oyster-fishermen-claim-100-per-cent-of.html


Oyster fishermen are saying 100 per cent of what they dredge up is coming up dead, which is not only a serious hit to their livelihoods but could have lasting impacts for years to come.
Fishermen will tell you part of the draw of the job is just being out on the water, but the waters near the Biloxi marsh are a little too quiet.
"North, east, west, there's usually someone harvesting someone trawling you don't see nothing, there's not one person out here," said oyster fisherman, Gregory Perez.
Gregory Perez says he's worked for years building and tending to these acres of water, or his private oyster leases.
This year was supposed to be the most lucrative for him until the oysters started dying.
"It's worthless, everything on this table is worthless," said Perez.
Perez blames this swirling blue-green algae blooms he's seen intensify in the area.
He says it's killed off all the oysters he was planning to harvest, including the young oysters that would be ready years from now.
"Twenty-five square miles of blue-green algae in this area, and everybody's oyster farm in this area they're 100 per cent completely dead," said Perez.
A spokesperson with the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries says as the oysters die, and the flood continues, the crisis is just beginning for those in the oyster industry.
"We're also going to see the aftermath of the flood in terms of additional algal blooms... they're not going to be able to recover quickly," said Fisheries Administrator, Harry Blanchet.
"We have more damage now.
This is worse than B.P. this is worse because we don't have any reproduction," said Perez.
Perez knows it will take years to rebuild his oyster farms and is hoping help comes soon.
"We need some kind of emergency funding to help us," he said.
Because watching his livelihood die and decay in front of him, he says the situation makes him sick. "I see no future as of right now, there's no future.
There's not a live oyster here to reproduce and that scares me because we don't know when we'll get that restart," said Perez.
The Department of Wildlife and Fisheries says for public waters, harvesting is down 80 per cent. Governor John Bel Edwards did request a federal fisheries disaster relief for Louisiana.

Wildlife and Fisheries say they're working with relevant agencies and collecting information, but it will take time until anything is decided.