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Published: June 2, 2011
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As record amounts of freshwater head down the Mississippi River toward the Mississippi Sound, the oyster industry can expect to face extreme losses, according to an official with the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources.
“In the western Mississippi Sound, the oyster industry will take a devastating hit,” Scott Gordon, Director of the Shellfish Bureau, Office of Marine Fisheries, said after a meeting of the Mississippi Commission on Marine Resources in Biloxi.
Oysters will suffer because they’re a stationary species; shrimp, finfish and crabs, which are mobile, are expected to be able to move ahead of freshwater entering the salty waters of the Sound, and the effect on the adults should be minimal, he said.
“There will be more mortality in the larval stages and the young unable to escape,” Gordon said. “There will be 100 percent mortality of oysters,” he said. “Oysters can’t move from the freshwater, and they will be most at risk.”
Other waters in South Mississippi could see an impact from the floodwaters coming down the Mississippi River. “The freshwater streams here could get invasive species,” Gordon said. They include Asian carp, such as bighead, silver and grass; cichlids, including Rio Grande and Nile tilapia; and mollusks such as apple snails and zebra mussels. Algal blooms could lead to fish kills.
“Zebra mussels are already a major problem in other parts of the country, so they are a big concern for us,” Gordon said. Officials are looking at 1983, when all 350 bays of the Bonnet Carre Spillway were opened for floodwaters, as a benchmark for predicting what will happen in the next few days and weeks.
The soonest oysters could be re-established could be in August, for a 2013 harvest, Gordon said. “It takes about 18 to 24 months for them to get from larva to the legal size,” he said.
Oyster reefs can be restored with cultch plants, which can be a mix of clean oyster shells, crushed limestone and crushed concrete.
source: Fishlink Sublegals
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Published: June 2, 2011
Print
EmailAs record amounts of freshwater head down the Mississippi River toward the Mississippi Sound, the oyster industry can expect to face extreme losses, according to an official with the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources.
“In the western Mississippi Sound, the oyster industry will take a devastating hit,” Scott Gordon, Director of the Shellfish Bureau, Office of Marine Fisheries, said after a meeting of the Mississippi Commission on Marine Resources in Biloxi.
Oysters will suffer because they’re a stationary species; shrimp, finfish and crabs, which are mobile, are expected to be able to move ahead of freshwater entering the salty waters of the Sound, and the effect on the adults should be minimal, he said.
“There will be more mortality in the larval stages and the young unable to escape,” Gordon said. “There will be 100 percent mortality of oysters,” he said. “Oysters can’t move from the freshwater, and they will be most at risk.”
Other waters in South Mississippi could see an impact from the floodwaters coming down the Mississippi River. “The freshwater streams here could get invasive species,” Gordon said. They include Asian carp, such as bighead, silver and grass; cichlids, including Rio Grande and Nile tilapia; and mollusks such as apple snails and zebra mussels. Algal blooms could lead to fish kills.
“Zebra mussels are already a major problem in other parts of the country, so they are a big concern for us,” Gordon said. Officials are looking at 1983, when all 350 bays of the Bonnet Carre Spillway were opened for floodwaters, as a benchmark for predicting what will happen in the next few days and weeks.
The soonest oysters could be re-established could be in August, for a 2013 harvest, Gordon said. “It takes about 18 to 24 months for them to get from larva to the legal size,” he said.
Oyster reefs can be restored with cultch plants, which can be a mix of clean oyster shells, crushed limestone and crushed concrete.
source: Fishlink Sublegals
Submit Article