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View Full Version : Gulf fisheries going the way of Alaskan herring? Still not viable after over 20 years



cyu
5th May 2012, 02:50
http://www.stuarthsmith.com/everything-is-dead-gulf-fisheries-collapse-nearly-two-years-after-bp-oil-spill

Louisiana once produced nearly 40 percent of all seafood in the continental United States

The oysters have been wiped out. The harvest for 2010 was the worst in more than four decades. oystermen continue to report catches down as much as 75 percent. Crab catches are in steep decline. Brown shrimp is down two-thirds. the white shrimp season was even worse, leading to descriptions of worst in memory and nonexistent.

state oyster grounds are gone, and we are investing personal money to rebuild oyster reefs, but so far its not working

I was at a BP coastal restoration meeting yesterday and they tried to tell us they searched 6,000 square miles of the seafloor and found no oil, thanks to Mother Nature

Normally I can get 8,000 pounds of brown shrimp in four days. But this year, I only get 800 pounds in a week

His experience during his last shrimping attempts left him depressed, has not tried to shrimp for weeks, and is simply hoping that there will be shrimp to catch next season.

The shrimp are all dead. Everything is dead.

many of the Gulf fisheries have already collapsed and the only question is if or when theyll come back.

If it takes too long for them to come back, the fishing industry wont survive

after the Exxon Valdez oil disaster in Alaska in 1989, herring have still not come back enough to be a viable fishing resource, this does not bode well for the Gulf seafood industry

Os Cangaceiros
5th May 2012, 04:57
Yes, I'd actually be very suprised if there weren't long lasting repurcussions from the BP spill...as the article said, herring pretty much collapsed and has never really recovered from Exxon Valdez, which was faaaaar less of a spill than the deep water horizon spill. I feel bad for the gulf fishermen.

Herring (outside of Cook Inlet) generally isn't doing too well, the market tanked after the Japanese quake/tsunami.