In a region that provides one-sixth of the nation's oysters - the epicenter of the West Coast's $111 million oyster industry - everyone knows nature can be fickle, wrote Craig Welch for Tri-cityHerald earlier this week.
But then the failure was repeated in 2006, 2007 and 2008. According to the news organisation, it spread to an Oregon hatchery that supplies baby oysters to shellfish nurseries from Puget Sound to Los Angeles. Eighty percent of that hatchery's oyster larvae died, too.
Now, as the oyster industry heads into the fifth summer of its most unnerving crisis in decades, scientists are pondering a disturbing theory. They suspect water that rises from deep in the Pacific Ocean - icy seawater that surges into Willapa Bay and gets pumped into seaside hatcheries - may be corrosive enough to kill baby oysters.
According to Tri-cityHerald, scientists seeking to explain what's plaguing these coastal oysters say the link to more corrosive water is strong but anecdotal. It could be just one of several factors.
But the possibility leaves some shellfish farmers uneasy about more than just their future business.
Further Reading
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- | View our recent article, Cracking the Demise of Oysters, by clicking here. |
