Where have all the oysters gone?

[wevans]

UMMM, BP was ALLOWED to use chemicals to sink the oil out of sight by the government!! You can't blame them for using what the gov. allows em to use "despite the chemicals being banned from use previously" That is all I'm gonna say on this one

[EddieJoe]

As I wrote before too much money at stake. Government and industry hand in hand and both political parties almost identical behind closed doors.

[Dubble Trubble]

Dubble:

I'm going to stay out of this fussing match you Georgia boys have going on with Mr. Gumbo, but I couldn't help myself when you start cherry picking something out of a press release regarding crude and the Gulf of Mexico. If your purpose was to compare the detrimental environmental effects of the spill vs. natural seeps in the Gulf and portray them as similar, you are mistaken. It has been known for many years that there are natural seeps in the Gulf, but they are relatively small in total discharge per unit area and widely distributed. Perhaps their total discharge is somewhat similar, but the release of millions of gallons of crude at one deep water location has impacts that are vastly different and far more detrimental. Add to that, the feds and the well operators had and still have no earthly idea what habitats or wildlife were common where the spill took place, because no one takes a look down there as part of the permit. Since that time, researchers have been trying to piece together what probably existed based on similar areas elsewhere, but mostly it is the oil guys that have the $ and the equipment to properly analyze resources at that kind of depth, not anyone else. Facts are, since I used to be part of the Florida response team, that no current technology exists for containing or properly responding (meaning quick response to a deep water event, shutting the unit, stopping the spread of oil, etc.) to a deep water spill, period. And yet we continue to operate and drill deeper and deeper, because the money to be made is enormous, so we lie to ourselves and pretend that such drilling can be "safe" to the resources of the Gulf. It can't, at this stage, but we as a nation are more than willing to sell out the Gulf for the oil. It's the truth, no matter what or who is in charge politically.

It's real handy not to know what you destroy, because then you can't be accountable for destroying anything if something goes wrong. Despite all of the hoorah after the big spill, things are pretty much back to normal as far as deep water drilling in the Gulf. Open season, MOL, after a "decent interval" for the dead stuff to go away and for people to forget enough. That is, until the next major spill, when everyone will moan and point fingers (and this includes politicians of both parties) but not much really will be done to mitigate or preclude another one.

EJ

And as I said, althought not directly, but now I will, there is a middle ground out there somewhere. Like Barry said, there also has to be common sense. If the extreme environmentalist had their way, all oil wells land and sea would be shut down tomorrow. Likewise, with NO controls, Oil companies would spill recklessly.

But where did common sense go in this country? It seems all we hear is from the extremes on either side, and nobody in the middle gets an ear.

Mr. Gumbo just seems to be one of those extremists in my opinion, that's all.

Dubble

[captkeyser]

UMMM, BP was ALLOWED to use chemicals to sink the oil out of sight by the government!! You can't blame them for using what the gov. allows em to use "despite the chemicals being banned from use previously" That is all I'm gonna say on this one

Not blaming anyone. Just stating what I was told by someone who knows more about it than myself.

[Gumbo]

Kind people, for the record, I am not an extremist. I fish, hunt, own two boats, a big F-150 4X4 (although I normally drive my Subaru except when towing one of the boats or hauling something else, so throw that stone at me), grow a ton of organic vegetables in my front garden and citrus in the side yard, have a beagle and a hound dog, and am mad at Washington DC, too. I am simply worried that we are doing things to the Earth that will visit ills upon future generations. So I compost, recycle, shop locally, ride my bike to work and do everything I can to lessen my footprint on this place. I'm not relying on God to make it all right. We all play a part.

Anyone want this soapbox?

[Pirate]

Back to the original topic, last summer was the first time in 35 years of SGI and East Point living that they had no oysters to sell to the public. It was only one trip but still hit home. By the way, do you people battling each other even know each other. IMO that is one problem with all this cyber stuff like texting, forums etc is that it takes away the human factor and many times people are misunderstood because words mean something different when said with human expression and emotion. JMO and damn, I'm ready for warm weather and tight lines!

[MudDucker]

I have hunted and fished these parts for over 50 years. I can tell you that the waters in this area are FAR cleaner than they were 50 years ago. Stopping industrial dumping was a good thing. I am not against common sense regulation and I sure want to see things preserved. I am against extremist in the environmental movement, because most of what they push for is pure bull. Look at the light bulb laws. Pushed America into florescents until the LED's got better. Guess what, the florescent bulbs are FAR more harsh on the environment with their gases and mercury content. Pushed ethanol on us, guess what, ethanol mixed gas is far more corrosive than straight gas and less efficient, so what has that done, damaged vehicles and pushed the price of food up through the roof while offering very little improvement to the environment. Today we have too many knee jerk liberal ideas with little true return.

[Gumbo]

The use of ethanol was pushed by GOP representatives in the Midwest through the 1990s and gained local momentum swinging from west to east of the USA. A Democrat Congress passed the law and it was signed by President Bush, a well-known knee jerk liberal, as part of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. The current President's EPA last year proposed reducing the amount of ethanol required to be in gasoline. To pin this on one side of the aisle does not comport with history.

[Salty Gator]

I'm totally shocked. A person wih an opinion that differs from the popular one is called names. Wow

[mastercaster]

And what about my attitude is it, sir? Is it simply that I voice beliefs that differ from yours? Is it that I conclude, based on sound data, that we as a society have caused and continue to cause great harm to our ecosystems? Point out one thing I have said that is incorrect based on the facts. Nature will not magically recover. God will not wave a magic wand and fix everything. It's not an attitude. It's the truth.

He has done it before, and can do it again. Look up Chicxulub. You think Waaaaayyyyy to highly of yourself as a human.


Dubble

No data, stats, policies, agendas impress me like a glimpse of God's ability!

_DSC6778_79_80_tonemapped.jpg

This mentality is so dangerous and explains a lot about the popular stances taken on this forum. To put it in simple terms, we don't need to do a damn thing about the environment and worry about our children and grand children's future because an imaginary god is going to fix it all.

By the way, you might want to pick something other than the Chicxulub crater to reference as god's magic wand. It was created +/- 66 million years ago, well before the earth was created. Something doesn't add up...

[Dubble Trubble]

And what about my attitude is it, sir? Is it simply that I voice beliefs that differ from yours? Is it that I conclude, based on sound data, that we as a society have caused and continue to cause great harm to our ecosystems? Point out one thing I have said that is incorrect based on the facts. Nature will not magically recover. God will not wave a magic wand and fix everything. It's not an attitude. It's the truth.

He has done it before, and can do it again. Look up Chicxulub. You think Waaaaayyyyy to highly of yourself as a human.


Dubble

No data, stats, policies, agendas impress me like a glimpse of God's ability!

_DSC6778_79_80_tonemapped.jpg

This mentality is so dangerous and explains a lot about the popular stances taken on this forum. To put it in simple terms, we don't need to do a damn thing about the environment and worry about our children and grand children's future because an imaginary god is going to fix it all.

By the way, you might want to pick something other than the Chicxulub crater to reference as god's magic wand. It was created +/- 66 million years ago, well before the earth was created. Something doesn't add up...

What mentality? There you go again, as Reagan would say. I was making a point about how mother nature will take care of herself. If we humans destroy the environment, so be it. When we are extinct, I assure you life WILL go on. You act as though most of us on here could care less about the environment. I call B/S! We all are sporstmen and probably care more and actually DO more than most "environmentalists".

You need to go back and read, and understand what "common sense" is.

As Mudducker said, many of the "rules" being created today are kneejerk reactions with NO real basis. Ethanol is a pile of BS! 10 % less mileage with 10% mixture equals ZERO. Not to mention the "green footprint" of producing it (Tractors take diesel fuel to harvest corn)! I could care less which party signed what, The whole bunch up in Washington are a bunch of greedy idiots anyway. If only a small Chicxulub type event could happen tonight in DC!

Dubble

[Gulf Coast]

mastercaster....God loves you buddy....have a better day tomrrow

[Rhettley]

I heard there was a closed area in a polluted corner of the bay that still had a dozen dime sized oysters. The report was there was a huge brawl and two boats sunk as the oystermen fought over who could find them first.

[charlie tuna]

NONE scientiific ---- NONE political---- Hands on story concerning fish killing pollution. About 35 years ago,long before GPS units were available for our fishing boats, i fished with a work buddy back in the Everglades. Every once in a while he would take me back in an area where the fresh water poured out of the flatlands and into some deep channels. The run was 38 miles from the dock, and for many years, we never seen another boat back there. Bait, both fresh water and salt water were everywhere and large schools on every point we fished. We caught both fresh water and salt water fish, and many times at the same time on one plug. Sold action, ALL the time. Blue crabs and crawfish under the thriving mangroves. Birds and gators were everywhere. Always something crashing the water or back in the sawgrass. After about ten years, we started seeing other boats in this area, but it didn't seem to effect the fishing. Then we started to notice -- NO bait ? And very few birds ? Over the next ten years, fishing was noticibly off and many mangrove islands that we had to run around, were now gone. The crabs and crawfish were gone, and we started noticing this white foamy looking stuff on the mangrove roots?? We ran into some students from the University of Miami back there one afternoon, they were taking water samples and collecting the "white foamy stuff" off the mangrove roots. We talked to them, and they explained this stuff was caused by phosphates in the water. A by product of "over-fertilization" of farmlands. It was obvious that the mangroves were dying back and being smothered from this "stuff". Fishing dropped off to the point that we stopped fishing this area. Along comes the Everglades Restoration Project, i think it was like $11 Billion, to clean up problems in the middle of the state. Try to restore the complete fish food chain down thru the state. They said it would take a long time before we would see results. After about three years of the restoration, we began to see "the white stuff" coming off the mangrove roots and flowing out with the outgoing tides. They stopped the "over fertilization" of the up state farmlands which cut back on the phosphates. Mangrove islands started poping up where they had disappeared! Started seeing shrimp and crabs again. Fishing started to pick up, not big fish, but plenty of action. Then they stopped the restoration!! And they warned that everything gained in a three year period would be wasted in less than a year. At the end of a year, the "white stuff" was everywhere and the fish were gone!!

[Jhults11]

This couldn't be more true!