Posted on 04/26/2012 10:36:15 PM PDT by Razzz42
larmed by widespread reports of visibly sick, deformed seafood coming out of the Gulf of Mexico, state officials have closed area waters to shrimping this morning (April 23). The waters will be closed indefinitely as scientists run tests in an effort to get a handle on a situation that is fast becoming a full-blown crisis on the Gulf Coast.
The closures including all waters in the Mississippi Sound, Mobile Bay, areas of Bon Secour, Wolf Bay and Little Lagoon mark the first official step in responding to increasingly urgent reports from fishermen and scientists of grotesquely disfigured seafood from Louisiana to the Florida panhandle.
The move is yet another major setback for the once-legendary Gulf seafood industry as it continues to struggle under the devastating impact of the BP oil spill, which began in April 2010.
Two years later, reports of severely deformed shrimp with bulging tumors and no eyes have become common.
And its not just the shrimp. Commercial fishermen are reporting red snapper and grouper riddled with deep lesions and covered with strange black streaks. Highly underdeveloped blue crabs are being pulled up in traps without eyes and claws (see link at bottom to my previous post on seafood deformities).
For those who thought 205 million gallons of oil and 2 million gallons of toxic dispersant werent going to have an impact on Gulf seafood, you need to check back in with reality.
As for the impetus for the shrimping closures, consider this from an April 18 Al Jazeera report by Dahr Jamail, who has doggedly covered the BP spill since the early days of the disaster:
Tracy Kuhns and her husband Mike Roberts, commercial fishers from Barataria, Louisiana, are finding eyeless shrimp.
At the height of the last white shrimp season, in September, one of our friends caught 400 pounds of these, Kuhns told Al Jazeera while showing a sample of the eyeless shrimp.
According to Kuhns, at least 50 per cent of the shrimp caught in that period in Barataria Bay, a popular shrimping area that was heavily impacted by BPs oil and dispersants, were eyeless. Kuhns added: Disturbingly, not only do the shrimp lack eyes, they even lack eye sockets.
Disturbing indeed. I am deeply saddened but not surprised by the shrimping closures. I applaud the courageous move by state officials to put consumer safety first. Theres no doubt in my mind as Ive said for months on end that seafood coming out of the Gulf of Mexico is unfit for human consumption.
We will bring you updates on water testing and any word on when these areas of the Gulf will be re-opened to shrimping.
Read my April 20 post on seafood deformities here: http://www.stuarthsmith.com/a-taste-of-the-grotesque-in-the-gulf-eyeless-shrimp-clawless-crabs-and-lesion-covered-fish
I never eat the shrimp eyes anyway.
Who cares if the shrimp is deformed. Does it still taste good with cocktail sauce on it?
Beats me, I prefer grilled salmon.
spilled oil doesn’t do this. if it did, then sealife would be deformed constantly
the source of the problem is the crap they poured into the gulf to “break up and disperse” the oil
(remember how “well” 0failure dealt with it??)
Evolution in action! Selection pressure! Random mutations! Wait - that’s bad? I thought that was a good thing?
I wouldn't blindly accept the writings of a lawyer who makes it his career "fighting major oil companies and other polluters." And neither should you.
Shrimp is great when it is sauteed in 10W-30.
Your blog posting smells like Dem party propaganda
Your blog posting smells like Dem party propaganda
Remove this garbage post
You posted a Ambulance chasing trials lawyers BS website nonsense !
Who are u trying to scam here ?
Most species of shrimp only live for one to two years some exceptions up to 7 years. My question is how did blind shrimp live long enough to get netted? I’m callin BS on the whole story.
So Al Jazeera is doing the reporting too!
Wiki and Jazeera! All the news that's fit to spin!
5W-30 in our house. Tasty, but with less calories.
Yep - this morning's news had a cat with backwards legs - I'd wager a month's pay the cat never came into contact with the Gulf of Mexico waters. They probably never noticed the damage that nets do to a portion of each catch.
This certainy works around Election time to justify Obama,Inc. per their role in destroying oil industry in Gulf.. Seems all too convenient; their finding way to tell public who it is, that wears the 'white hat' - while reminding all, 'they' are still saving America from our arch enemy 'oil'.
Too much tin foil here - or not. . .
Seems all too convenient; their finding way to resurrect fear while 'reminding'' public who it is, that wears the 'white hat' - and why this Gov justified in 'crucifying' America's arch enemy 'oil'.
Too much tin foil here - or not. . .
Blind shrimp should be easier to catch! Bigger catches, lower prices. Mmmmm, eyeless shrimp, skewered and basted in butter, chili powder and lime juice on my new Green Egg.
The ambulance-chasing attorney blog this is from has no links.
And you linked to Democracy Now - a rabid left-wing news site - and claim it is balanced.
Forget oil spills, I smell ozone.
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