Things don't appear to be as peachy keen in the Gulf of Mexico as they would lead you to believe

Rumor has it that they will be closing Apalachicola Bay to oyster harvesting sometime over the next few months. Apparently the oysters just are not there. TPTB are claiming that it's because of lack of fresh water, but we've had PLENTY of rain all summer. The rumor I just heard is that the shells of the oysters are just dissolving or not forming properly. Coincidentally, blue crabs are extremely hard to come by here in north Florida. So are shrimp. What are shelled seafood supplies like from other areas of the Gulf? Heck, someone I know tried to find blue crabs down on the southwest coast of Florida recently and came up empty handed.

From just a casual observation, bird life is nowhere near what it used to be in the areas I've been along the north Florida Gulf shore. I believe the food source will no longer support a large bird population any longer.

Anyone anywhere seen any observations on sea turtle nesting along north coastal Gulf of Mexico? I would imagine the sea turtles would be impacted by all this as well.

Yeah, I know the BP oil spill has fallen off of the news lately. But I sure haven't forgotten about it. And nor will I.

Maybe all that Corexit they used is causing trouble.

a reply to: Rich Z

Tnaks for the firsthand observations. How could a zillion barrels of crude and "cleaner" possibly cause any problems?

The media at present is more concerned with the bombing of oil fields overseas, but maybe they can squeeze a report in abut the Gulf someday.

a reply to: Rich Z

The rumor mill I heard from my kin in the gulf is that the fishing holes they use to go to for personal use are all contaminated. There hasn't been any good shellfish, or any other sea catch worth a damn since 2009. No one will even eat any seafood down there because people were getting sick and it was never reported.

I asked my aunt about the turtles (she actually takes a turtle or two as a pet every year, why I don't know) and she said its been nothing. She hasn't even seen any moccassins like normal, but she did find a dead den of them by the coast (she lives in Gulfport).

She said it was the oddest thing she has seen in her entire life.

Here in the Great Lakes area, we have had consumption warnings ever since I started fishing as a kid. PCB, DDT, mercury, heavy metals of all kinds, all of it dumped by industries who seem to get away with it even after laws are enacted to protect the environment.

So, now we have to avoid Gulf sea food because of Deep Horizon, and North Atlantic because of the Russian dumping grounds, and the Pacific due to Fukshima, in addition to just about every body of water in the Great Lakes watershed due to industrialization. There have been some bright points over the years, like Lake Erie doesn't catch fire any more.

Who really cares anymore when the upper income folks are still going out in their expensive boats to get # faced drunk and screw all the silicon sluts at the party coves on the weekends? The locals, as much as they don't like it, will support it due to the economic boost they get every weekend over the summer. It is a shame because most of the year round residents are church going goodie-goodies, yet they put up with the weekly water orgies, drunken fights and dangerous unsafe activities on the weekender boats. What church will stand up to having their waters turned into Sodom and Gamora when most of them are not for profit and bow down to the government that allowed them to go tax free?

a reply to: Rich Z

the ecosystems we live in are quite fragile and from what i can tell we have tipped the balance ...we will be seeing this happen on a global scale soon enough...unless of course we start looking after the world we live in...we are quite dumb for a smart species

Look at the fines that are placed on industr..
Some as low as $25k for dumping "IF" caught...

So it is cheaper to dump then process it...

It's just a matter of time....

Soon there will be BP shills here telling us how BP lived up to their clean up obligations and that the Gulf is back to Normal.

I had a friend tell me crustacean are the filters of the oceans. With salinity changes and their disappearance I wonder how long it will take for the oceans to be truly toxic. Anything major would be similar to the last extinction level event where sharks and a few others made it in hostile conditions. The ecosystem is so incredible its easy to see how it happens. Or, it corrects itself in the next couple of decades - hopefully.

Well, it's definitely not for lack of fresh water because, as you said - lots of rain - plus Lake Lanier, which is connected by a dam to the Chattahoochee (which is part of the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin) and is managed by the Army Corps of Engineers, is 3 feet down and still going. They are letting out tons of water.

I live here, albeit recently; and talk to locals and neighbors on a daily basis who fish and eat what they catch. Haven't heard any complaints but then again I haven't asked. I'm almost afraid to ask because I don't want to bring up a bad subject and I'm afraid I'll hear nothing but curse words and who wants to bring up something that'll make someone relive it all again...but I'll somehow tactfully bring it up in conversation and get their take on it, whether it be that it's back to normal or not. I will come back to this thread and comment on it.

Oh, and yes the area I live in now was impacted directly and I've often wondered about this very question of whether or not the seafood here is now safe to eat. If going by what the locals are doing I would say yes, only because they go out and fish and have fish frys, etc...however I will make it a point to ask about quantity and quality. This area did report last summer/tourist season was very good...so maybe that's an indicator that it's better?

By all outward appearances it seems the same beautiful, pristine white sugar sand beaches and I see people swimming in the Gulf all the time. Trust me though, every time I have set foot in the water here its always been in the back of my mind. Should I, or shouldn't I? What really is corexant that they sprayed and is it still lurking about?

originally posted by: olaru12
It's just a matter of time....

Soon there will be BP shills here telling us how BP lived up to their clean up obligations and that the Gulf is back to Normal.

That time has passed. It wasn't even a year after when BP was putting out T.V. ads claiming it's all cleaned up, you can go swimming and eat sea food until you burst. They were patting themselves on the backs on how good of a job they did and how great they are for "cleaning" it up.

From what I read, deep horizon was never sealed off properly and has leaked ever since they "fixed" it. So go party it up down in Norleans, swim, eat sea food, and don't worry while you prop up the sagging tourist industry down there.

a reply to: Rich Z

It's not just the BP oil spill you have to worry about.

Here's an oil platform just off the coast of Louisiana that's been leaking for the last 10 years (article dated July 2013).

"Gulf of Mexico Oil Platform Still Leaking after 9 Years"

oilprice.com...

Here's an article on the situation. [url=http://www.sfgate.com/news/science/article/Oystermen-fear-closing-of-Apalachicola-Bay-5769220.php]Oystermen-fear-closing-of-Apalachicola-Bay[/url ]

From articles I read over the years, there are thousands of old abandoned wells in the Gulf. No one has even been checking them to make sure there is no leakage. I think it is an out of control situation.

The article above Deetermined posted said, "In 2010 the explosion at BP’s Macondo Well occurred just several miles away, releasing a constant seep of oil for 86 days. ".

A SEEP? That puppy was blowing out barrels of oil for 86 days. It was no seep. If the industry is calling the Macondo well a seep, then there is a much bigger problem than we know because they claim there are lots of seeps in these old wells. It makes one think of a tiny little stream coming out of a faucet. But, now with the definition of seep used in that article, I am much more concerned about the damage they are causing and what happens when another cat 5 takes out production platforms.

Maybe they should be submarine controlled so surface storms don't destroy them. It would cost a lot more, but we only have one spaceship (planet) for all of us to live on.

Taylor Energy Ltd., once the largest oil and gas producer in the Gulf of Mexico, used to operate the Mississippi Canyon 20-A production platform just at the mouth of the Mississippi River, until it disappeared in 2004.

The 550 foot tall platform stood in 479 feet of water with pipes running to 28 underwater oil and gas wells, but on the 15th September 2004, the entire rig along with all pipelines were swept away as Hurricane Ivan passed over, bringing winds of 145mph, and 71 foot waves.

After the incident Taylor Energy reported that the platform “was subsequently located lying in an almost horizontal orientation and almost entirely buried in sediment up to 100 feet deep, approximately 900 feet from its original location and in approximately 440 feet of water.”

During one of the underwater investigations plumes of oil and gas were discovered escaping, from both the old wells and the broken platform. Taylor Energy has been forced to run daily flyovers to check the area for oil sheens, and oil has been spotted almost every day since.

Source

The problem with the oysters in Apalachiola has nothing to do with oil it has to do with the limited amount of fresh wayer coming down the Apalachicola River into the Apalachicola Bay. This is a result of legal dispute between Florida, Alabama and Georgia. And things will not truly recover until that fresh water is allowed to flow freely again.

Eating oyster harvested in the Gulf of Mexico or any seafood for that matter, along the US Gulf Coast will probably be bad for your health. From what I understand, they are still using corexit. Dumping it on top of the leaking wellhead so the oil doesn't come to the surface. If the government and environmentalist don't see oil then everything is great.

BP has ruined the Gulf Coast for many decades to come.

a reply to: Rich Z

I just watched a marine science show on PBS that stated there are several very large plumes of oil suspended in the gulf, and that they are concerned about toxin induced mutations in the sea life in the region. Makes you realize the magnitude of the criminal act that was pulled off there. They sank billions of gallons of oil in the gulf, it is all still there, and so is all the toxic crap that they used to make it sink. God only knows what the end result of this is going to be for us. I haven't eaten seafood out of the Gulf for years now and that is hard for me to do because I grew up there, used to sit up nights watching crab giggers out on the flat moonlit water, thats all pretty much wrecked now by a bunch of greedy Brit businessmen. I hope they rot in hell.

a reply to: Rich Z

shells of the oysters are just dissolving

That is pretty concerning. Everything I have read on the subject says that that occurs when waters turn acidic. I don't know if that can be attributed to the oil spill though because a search found it is happening all over. Is there any way you can find out what the PH level is where you are talking about?

a reply to: Rich Z
That sucks I love those oysters. Our collective short memory and willful ignorance will eventually spell out the end for most of us. Look no further into the past than Fukushima as another example. How about that Great Pacific Garbage Patch as well? We just don't give enough of a damn to look past the ends of our own noses, and that will damn us.