A Warning From the Sea

[babylonsister]

A Warning From the Sea
Oyster ’seeds’ are dying as Pacific Coast waters grow warmer.
by Kenneth R. Weiss


QUILCENE, WASH. – For decades, the unwritten motto at shellfish hatcheries in the Pacific Northwest was “Better oysters through science.”


Scientists mated the heartiest, fastest-growing stock to produce plumper, sweeter oysters for slurping raw on the half-shell or frying up to dip in tangy sauces.

They probed the genetic code to select for the most desirable traits of the Pacific oyster, an import from Japan that now weighs in, pound for pound, as the No. 1 aquacultured crop in the world: 4.5 million tons a year (shells included) valued at $3 billion.

They even bred out sexual organs that at certain times of the year can take up more than a third of an oyster’s body weight and give it a soft, mushy texture.

With selective breeding and genetic fingerprinting, they were on their way to developing a super oyster resistant to summer mortality, keeping one step ahead of a warmer, more polluted planet. Or so they thought.

Suddenly, oyster research bogged down as a riotous bloom of bacteria went on a West Coast killing spree, wiping out billions of oyster larvae.

more...

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/07/13/10332/

[LARED]

1. "riotous bloom of bacteria went on a West Coast killing spree"

Gangsta bacteria on the West Coast?

[azul]

2. Gee, who would've thought biodiversity is necessary for sustainability?

What with mankind carrying bugs around the globe in his pockets and orifices, that some opportunistic organism wouldn't die and go to heaven, not necessarily in that order, when it found such a delicious set-up?

[WhiteTara]

3. amazing concept, isn't it?

welcome to DU :hi:

[Indenturedebtor]

4. Seriously though

Same damn thing is happening to bannanas as well. Before you know it we'll all be eating roaches and rats. Bleh.

IDIOTS!

[dgibby]

5. or.....

they'll be eating us!

[Indenturedebtor]

6. Hah! Which is ... perhaps more likely :( n/t