[Yeah, let's not ask any pointy-headed experts before we mess with the environment. Let's just use grizzly-mama common sense!]
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/21/for-oysters-a-remedy-turned-catastrophe/
July 21, 2010, 1:11 pm
Green (New York Times blog)
For Oysters, a `Remedy' Turned Catastrophe
By JOHN COLLINS RUDOLF
Louisiana Office of Coastal Protection and Restoration A freshwater
diversion in St. Charles Parish, La., aimed at minimizing the potential
impact of oil.
In late April, just days into what has turned out to be the largest oil
spill in American history, Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, with the
support of local parish officials, ordered the opening of giant valves
on the Mississippi River, releasing torrents of freshwater that they
hoped would push oil back out to sea.
<snip>
Oysters require saltwater to live, and major infusions of freshwater
can quickly kill them. Once dead, the beds can take two to five years
to become commercially viable again.
Now, some oyster fishermen along the coast are reporting mortality
rates as high as 80 percent along thousands of acres of oyster beds. In
Barataria Bay, one of Louisiana's most productive oyster fisheries,
some beds are 60 percent dead, largely because of the freshwater
influx, The Wall Street Journal quoted Louisiana's top state oyster
biologist as saying.
Many oyster beds in gulf waters have been shut down as a precaution
because oil contamination was considered likely, but widespread
die-offs caused by the oil have not yet been found.
<end excerpts>
Michael