WaterWayne
Guest
And here I thought "working" today would be boring...
Speaking of diseases, Gidds, I think the quarantine aspect of Gulf harvesting is better than several years ago. For instance, I was in Houston when a mid-80's batch of bad oysters hospitalized a few dozen people; the cause was illegal harvesting from a previously-quarantined bay (American Bay, in Louisiana.) Now the locals have apparently gotten with the program.
On the other hand, Galveston Bay oysters are out of the question. A mid-90's outbreak of Vibrio was only found in individuals who ate raw oysters from Galveston Bay. "This strain has not previously been identified in U.S. waters but is common in South East Asia. A connection with ballast water discharged from ships is
considered a strong possibility according to Dr. George Hofkin of the US Food and Drug Administration...
"Comparative situations mentioned were:
"- - the detection of the bacterium which causes cholera in oysters from Alabama's Mobile Bay a few years ago, traced to ballast water (taken on to stabilize ships during ocean passages) which was dumped from ships which had been to Peru where a major outbreak had occurred,
"- - Zebra mussels carried to the Great Lakes from foreign ports via ballast water dumped in US waters."
I guess those zebra mussels are inedible, huh? or the restaurant market would have taken care of the Great Lakes infestations.
Speaking of diseases, Gidds, I think the quarantine aspect of Gulf harvesting is better than several years ago. For instance, I was in Houston when a mid-80's batch of bad oysters hospitalized a few dozen people; the cause was illegal harvesting from a previously-quarantined bay (American Bay, in Louisiana.) Now the locals have apparently gotten with the program.
On the other hand, Galveston Bay oysters are out of the question. A mid-90's outbreak of Vibrio was only found in individuals who ate raw oysters from Galveston Bay. "This strain has not previously been identified in U.S. waters but is common in South East Asia. A connection with ballast water discharged from ships is
considered a strong possibility according to Dr. George Hofkin of the US Food and Drug Administration...
"Comparative situations mentioned were:
"- - the detection of the bacterium which causes cholera in oysters from Alabama's Mobile Bay a few years ago, traced to ballast water (taken on to stabilize ships during ocean passages) which was dumped from ships which had been to Peru where a major outbreak had occurred,
"- - Zebra mussels carried to the Great Lakes from foreign ports via ballast water dumped in US waters."
I guess those zebra mussels are inedible, huh? or the restaurant market would have taken care of the Great Lakes infestations.
If you look at the stats most of the shellfish poisionings are in the south but that's just because of the temp. Your oysters spawn twice a season, ours can only do it once.
