Left home for a brief road trip Friday afternoon. Have been in Orange Beach AL for about 48 hours now. We’re enjoying the nice weather,and beaches. Walking more than I have in months.
We met another couple from Ocean Springs, MS on the beach yesterday. We struck up a conversation about their cool electric driven bicycles, and the talk wandered into beaches,the water,and seafood.
They explained the differences between varieties of shrimp. Cool facts, but I’m not fussy about my shrimp as long as they are hot and plentiful.
They also claimed that the oysters were shipped in, as there is no longer an oyster industry anywhere in the gulf. They claimed that the Deep Water Horizon disaster wiped out almost all of the oysters and a large part of the crab population.
They talked about dead dolphins and sea turtles in large numbers.
They painted a pretty bleak picture of the gulf, with the 2010 oil spill and even floodwater releases by the Corp of Engineers as major destruction events for marine life.
Looking to the ‘fire for information here.
Is the gulf dead or dying? Likely to recover?
Writing this from the balcony outside our room, 3rd floor, Sleep Inn, Orange Beach AL
The Deepwater Horizon spill affected crabs and oysters more than any other fish populations. Those impacts were somewhat localized to Eastern LA and parts of the MS sound. The jury is still out on whether or not tuna were affected. Otherwise the deep Gulf seems very healthy.
As it relates to oysters, the Bonnet Carre Spillway being opened 3 of the past 4 years has had devastating impacts. The salinity of the MS Sound drops below the salinity that will support them. Crabs don't die with the freshwater inundation, they just move further out. The shrimp spawn is also negatively impacted by the spillway openings. Beyond that the large volumes of fresh water all across the state affect shrimp spawn. This time of year normally sees the MS River gauge at Carrollton at about the 9 foot mark. It is at the 16 foot mark and we have not yet had our spring rains and snow melt off. The typical trigger point for opening the Spillway is 17 feet. This year will mark the 4th time in 5 years it will open. Prior to 2008 it had only been opened 8 times in its 70 year history. It has been opened 6 times since. This year will make 7. The Spillway is opened to relieve pressure on the levees and lower water levels in the greater New Orleans area.
Another issue that is being explored is the impacts of not dredging the Mississippi River passes that used to be dredged. The only one that is dredged is Southwest Pass. The other passes are silting in and becoming very shallow. Obviously not as much water can flow through a shallow pass as can flow through a deep pass. This has the effect of stacking up the water upriver of the passes. That may be part of why the Spillway has seen more frequent openings.
Louisiana is fighting another battle. Levees are being built across most of the state. The sea water that once penetrated deep into the marsh with a strong south east wind is now funneled through the narrow openings of the flood gates that are the only breaks in the levee systems. Shrimp that would historically make it deep into the marsh to grow in the protection of the abundant sea grass, are now being kept out in larger open bays. They are much more subject to predation in open waters. The levees are going to change the biology and hydrology of the area in ways we cannot yet envision.
Add to that complex situation the coastal erosion issue and the solutions to restoring the coast. There will be more freshwater river diversions added to the mix. Historically that freshwater flowed freely through the marsh when the river flooded. Now is will be pumped in select locations and trapped to some degree by the levees.
The Gulf dead zone is yet another issue. You can run that through a search engine and read for days on that topic alone. Dead zone is a bit of a misnomer. It's and area where because of the fertilizer rich river runoff, low oxygen areas develop. It doesn't kill the sea life to any significant degree, much of the sea life just moves to areas with better oxygen levels. When the oxygen levels normalize the sea life returns.
Oysters are seeing the greatest impacts. Followed by shrimp and crabs. Tuna landings are down significantly but it would be hard to pin all of that on DWH. Excepting those species, things are looking pretty good.
The flavor of shrimp and oysters is influenced by the salinity of the water and the nutrients in the water. Mississippi Sound and Mobile Bay oysters are the best on the Gulf Coast in opinion. The shrimp from the inshore waters of coastal LA are my favorite. An imported farm raised shrimp lacks character in the flavor. The texture and color of the cooked flesh is appreciably different from Gulf shrimp as well. If anyone were to compare an imported shrimp and Gulf shrimp in a side by side taste test, the differences would be apparent.
Bicycles are cool, even the electric ones.
