Tag Archives: oyster harvesting
Human waste may end oyster harvesting on the May River. Can Bluffton clean it up?
Larry Toomer’s business depends on the May River. On a cold January morning, he stood on the boat ramp outside the Bluffton Oyster Co. with a paper cup of steaming gas station coffee in hand. A lifetime of wrestling shrimping nets has left him with a sturdy build. His rose-colored face is in stark contrast with his ghost-white hair. Behind him, dense clouds of powdery fog swallowed the river, giving his shrimp trawler the illusion of flight. The well-worn ship is easily two stories tall. “Daddy’s Girls” is painted in black-and-blue block lettering on the side. Named for his three daughters, the trawler has become the unofficial town seal. When a home is on a septic system, he said, everything that is flushed down the drain goes into a tank below the house. The solids are filtered out and held in the tank. The liquids go into a drain field below. “Do you understand what I’m saying?” Toomer said, elaborating on the path of human excrement. “Every day, right out the toilet.” >click to read< 15:41
These guys are pissed! Apalachicola Bay Oystermen rage at possible bay closure
Frustrated over talk Apalachicola Bay might be shut down to oyster harvesting this winter, Franklin County seafood workers angrily confronted the president of their workers association at a meeting Friday evening. Barraged with catcalls and accusations from the standing-room-only audience, Shannon Hartsfield cut short his presentation regarding details of the upcoming $4.5 million shelling program, funded through a federal fishery disaster grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Read the rest here 12:01
Florida aquaculture officials take cautious approach to Apalachicola Bay aquaculture leases
In a lengthy and detailed face-to-face meeting with local seafood industry leaders Monday afternoon, Florida aquaculture officials signaled they planned to take a cautious approach to opening up Apalachicola Bay to small oyster harvesting leases. continued@thetimes
