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In the Long Island Sound waters off Connecticut
and New York, at least a million lobsters in
recent weeks have died. The die-off is too
widespread to be explained by lack of oxygen in
late summer polluted waters. Bodies are now
being studied for disease and cause of death.
One lobsterman, Jay Palmer, pulled up the
several hundred traps he had in the western
Sound and is now working in construction. He
told reporters at the Connecticut Post, "I'm not
a scientist, I'm a fisherman, (but) my gut
feeling is that it's a chemical problem. I know
people who've been fishing out here for fifty
years and this has never happened before."
Palmer also said the eggs on female lobsters are
gray instead of green and that blue crabs and
spider crabs also are coming up either dead or
sick.
Until this mysterious tragedy, East Coast
lobsters were already in trouble from severe
overfishing. In fact, the Atlantic States Marine
Fisheries Commission is expected to impose the
first coast wide limits on the number of traps
lobstermen can drop in an effort to protect the
rapidly diminishing population of marine
animals.
And down in the Gulf of Mexico, an area as big
as New Jersey is dead. And it's causing a war
between Midwestern farmers and fishermen in the
Gulf. A study released by the Clinton
administration says the chief source of the dead
zone is upriver on the Mississippi at the hog
farms in Iowa and fields in Illinois saturated
with fertilizers and pesticides. The government
has proposed a 20% cutback in the use of
nitrogen fertilizers that end up in the Gulf
from the Mississippi River. Farmers want to be
paid for any land they take out of production.
Nitrogen fertilizers make plants grow, including
huge algae blooms. As algae thrives, spreads,
dies and sinks to the bottom, it removes oxygen
from water. Some marine animals that are agile
such as shrimp and fish can get out of
oxygen-deprived water quickly. But slower
animals such as snails and crabs die. This year
the dead zone covered 7,728 square miles and is
expected to be larger next year. Even the Gulf
fishermen are asking the government to help.
"The key is to not wait until this takes over
the whole Gulf!"
Check it out if you like:
http://www.earthfiles.com/earth083.htm
Paul
Paul Shreenan, B.A., M.A., Ph.D.(abd) < ){{><
Department of Sociology
Saint Mary's University
Halifax, N.S., Canada, B3H 3C3
pshreena@shark.stmarys.ca
(902) 453-5985 < )XXx><
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The preceding message was posted on the Sustainable Maritimes
mailing list (sust-mar). http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/lists/sust-mar
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