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created over 2 years ago | Tagged: |
Byron
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It wasn’t oil that killed Louisiana oysters following the Deepwater Horizon blowout. The horrendous, months-long spill that erupted nearly a year ago spewed millions of barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. Calculating the damage will be a long and ongoing process. Among the species of marine life damaged in the disaster were the oysters of the Louisiana coast. But in the vast majority of cases, it wasn’t oil that killed the oysters. It was water.
Before the spill, Louisiana produced about 40 percent of America’s domestic oyster supply. Barring another disaster, oyster beds should be replenished in just a few years. But how long it will take for the average American seafood lover to start swallowing plates of Gulf oysters again is anybody’s guess. People have to first swallow the story being told by the testing agencies, the government, and the seafood industry. Many don’t seem ready to do that yet.
