Oysters after the Deepwater Horizon

No mo' po'?

The gulf supplies most of America’s oysters, but for how long?

See article

Readers' comments



A Hilton

j bay:

I agree....it's been nonstop with disasters it seems.

The "featured readers' comments" are comments written by readers....not the Economist. The comments you and I are writing are "readers' comments." The Economist then selects ones that they feature or put on display on their website....hence "featured readers' comments." Go to the United States page if you want to view them.

Again I only said the Economist has minimized or left out pertinent facts. For example not showing the known full size of the spill on the map, pertinent facts about Corexit in another article (that BP shares board members with Corexit)...showing a conflict of interest....since they have been criticized for refusing to use a less harmful dispersant. One article mentioned that BP will pay for this but did not mention the fishermen who work for BP on the cleanup who still today...over 3 weeks....have not been paid (almost a month is a long time for hourly workers to go without wage)....The same BP employee that was in charge during the biggest spill on Alaska's north slope is in charge of drilling in the gulf. Facts that seemed pertinent in articles I have read and was wondering why they were not there. There are more examples but I'm tired. Perhaps you can point out to me which articles by the Economist contains this info...and then I will apologize. Anyhow...I am tired....the Celtics just won against the Lakers and I am enjoying mindless entertainment at this hour. Cheers.

Eusebius Pamphili

A Hilton,

I apologize. Which article were you referring to that is in defense of BP?

You said: "The "featured readers comments" on the economist online have either been in defense of BP..."

~ which is what I was confused by because I haven't read anything explicitly defending BP.

As a side note I'm also completely disgusted by the situation but I guess I'm starting to habituate. First it was financial collapse then the earthquakes started happening, then volcano's then some more earthquakes and oh ya' their was the Katrina thing and then the tsunami... business as usual right? Maybe, I guess. Maybe their isn't any global warming but then I started talking to my brother in law and he started telling me how he gets an email every time there's an earthquake because he's in insurance and he's been getting one a day since the South American quake. I guess at some point you stop complaining and start cracking jokes... at least that's what I did...

Cheers to a sinking ship, have we any more rum captain?

A Hilton

As far as oysters go, they are being produced in California, Oregon, Washington, Maine and the rest of the northeast, South Carolina, etc. however you have to wonder with the gulf stream will cause the oil to reach into the northeast.

Anyone read about Kevin Costner's oil separation machines. Apparently they are so efficient...the oil is so pure that it can be used. Of no surprise...he had been trying to sell them to oil companies with no success.


Eusebius Pamphili

@Risk Manager,

I didn't hear you refute the fact that you somehow work for BP or are a BP share holder...?

Oil is a hydrocarbon. Oil kills the oysters/filter-feeders along with corrals, the corrals dissolve and add phosphorus to the Hydrogen and Carbon while BP is releasing dispersants containing Salts, Hydrogen and Oxygen necessary for algae/bacteria blooms which deplete oxygen. The algae blooms produce neurotoxins which start killing larger animals which lead to more Phosphorus being released and larger dead zones.

"In organic chemistry, a hydrocarbon is an organic compound consisting entirely of hydrogen and carbon."

"On May 1, two United States Department of Defense C-130 Hercules aircraft were employed to spray oil dispersant.[156] Corexit EC9500A and Corexit EC9527A are the main oil dispersants being used.[157] These contain propylene glycol, 2-butoxyethanol and a proprietary organic sulfonic acid salt.[158]"

* The spill threatens environmental disaster due to factors such as petroleum toxicity and oxygen depletion.
* As of June 10, dead animals found in the spill zone included 1,131 dead birds, 331 sea turtles, 38 dolphins and other mammals, and 1 reptile. There may be other dead animals that go unfound.

"Of particular note are harmful algal blooms (HABs), which are algal bloom events involving toxic or otherwise harmful phytoplankton such as dinoflagellates of the genus Alexandrium and Karenia. Such blooms often take on a red or brown hue and are known colloquially as red tides."


"Coastal water pollution produced by humans and systematic increase in sea water temperature have also been suggested as possible contributing factors in HABs"

"Some species, called zooxanthellae, are endosymbionts of marine animals and protozoa, and play an important part in the biology of coral reefs."

~An endosymbiont is any organism that lives within the body or cells of another organism.

“ Some species produce neurotoxins, which in such quantities kill fish and accumulate in filter feeders such as shellfish, which in turn may pass them on to people who eat them. This phenomenon is called a red tide, from the color the bloom imparts to the water. Some colorless dinoflagellates may also form toxic blooms, such as Pfiesteria.”

“Inputs of phosphate further encourage these red tides, and consequently there is a strong interest in learning more about dinoflagellates, from both medical and economic perspectives.”

“Phosphorus is a key element in all known forms of life. Phospholipids are the main structural components of all cellular membranes.”


~ Does all this sound a little bit Biblical?


Having read the link
to learn what Po'boy is, (hat tip to A Hilton), I wonder if it can be reproduced in Japan, where deep-fried oysters are popular dish already... If you Americans really end up with shortage of Po'boys, we'll try to be ready on the other side of the Pacific, where we won't expect to be impacted by the leak for at least a decade...

Eusebius Pamphili

I came back today just for that MoJos :-D. He must of got called off by the PR firm.

I used to work for a ad agency. The standard practice is to ask everyone in the office to go on a specific sight and say something nice about the client.


Sure, nature will take care of itself, but in what time frame? Twenty one years ago the Exxon Valdez spilled "only" 250,000 barrels, and that was on the surface. To this day the effects are still being felt and fish stocks and the ecosystem have not recovered to pre-spill levels. Who knows what the effects will be and what damage is being done in the 1.5 Km between the Gulf leak and the surface? Things will be back to normal in "a few years"? Not likely.

The oil-eating bacteria are there, yes, but their numbers may become disproportionately large. You can't mess with one element of nature and not expect to change the balance. What will be the effect on the bigger picture in the Gulf? I don't think anyone really knows.

Even if stock rebounds in future years, would you really want to eat anything that has grown in that contaminated sludge? Bivalves like oysters filter the water and accumulate junk out of it. E.g. mercury, of which there are several species to be found in crude oil.

A Hilton


I agree...I felt so bad for Steve Nash because he worked like crazy to keep the team afloat. Maybe the Celtics will take care of Kobe.

A Hilton

The Economist article closes with:

"...said that the area has been hurt less by the spill itself than by “the media, always looking for a tarball on the beach”."

Wow! An article about how we can't eat our favorite sandwich for a while vs. the fact that marsh grass has been dying for weeks now. Once they die, their roots can no longer hold onto the sand and the sand dissipates and the marsh is lost forever. And everyone knows how unique and valuable these marshes are.

An article about molluscs rather than birds, turtles mammals:

"Of course it’s worth remembering that the number of known dead animals likely dwarfs the number that were actually killed and will never be found and tallied."


Birds dead: 658
Birds oiled but alive: 473
Birds cleaned and released: 40
Sea Turtles dead: 279
Sea Turtles oiled but alive: 32
Sea Turtles cleaned and released: 3
Dead mammals: 36

As the spill continues, the number increases exponentially. That's a far cry from "the area has been hurt less by the spill itself than by “the media, always looking for a tarball on the beach”."

Eusebius Pamphili

A Hilton,

Thanks for the clarrification. I was un-aware that the economist did that. After the Suns lost I gave up on basketball. I think we lost because we didn't have Raja Bell to horse caller Kobe. :-D


The shortest path to the hurt is through the stomach" So what gets to the hurt hits the stomach first and when it does the hurt either bits faster or slows down depending by what and how the stomach is hit. After all that is where the energy that drives its engine emanates from. Our appetite for energy for our internal dynamics and external mobility and have wrecked havoc over and again to the environment and many species of life in specified localities and the Globe in general and some have remained extinct while few have come back thanks to life's generally indeterminable resilience. Yes as many have reiterated nature is generally resilient and it will often hill in time particularly when the cause of the damage and ill is self inflicted and is caused by natures internal dynamics, (an in-equilibrium formed naturally and has to be equilibrated naturally), but when caused by human un-ingenious ingenuity the coasts are often unduly burdensome. As said by some commentators Oil is natural and nature will take care of it, yes indeed nature takes care of its own creation and often with a minimal effort from humans or if we play a role as intended by nature, but when we unduly stir up things what ended up with were Chernobyl, Nagasaki, Hiroshima, 3 mile Island Exxon Valdese and the likes to site some of the more traumatic highlights and not the gradual step by step disasters we came caused and are causing. Last, what have been lost at the Gulf by this disaster will recover as Chernobyl, Nagasaki, Hiroshima and all the rest of them, but at what cost? And that I think in my layman's opinion is what should deny us a peaceful nightly sleep.
Ayele Teklemariam


@Risk Manager

I'm looking forward to that. However, A BP public relations site does not make a good source to _prove_ your arguments.

"a. something you read asserted elsewhere with no proof but a jolly good story around it
b. something you can prove to be true.

I think everything I said in my post was b. Please feel free to put specifics to me to check this.

I think everything you wrote fell into category a. Tomorrow I will explain why, in detail, with links to source data."

We probably have to agree to disagree here. Up to now you came up with some impressive sounding phrases, that actually prove nothing much.

You mention dispersions as the solution to all the ills. The mess will be broken up and eaten up by some oil digesting micro critters.

I really don't know enough to intelligently depate the point. What I do know (that's cat. b, I dare say) is that Corexit was widely used as a dispersant on the spill.

I also don't have the time for full blown research. This, however, is what the fine folks at Wikipedia have to say (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corexit) :

"The EPA released further data on its chemical composition, including 2-butoxyethanol, identified as a causal agent in the health problems experienced by cleanup workers after the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill."


"The safety data sheet states “The potential human hazard is: High.

According to the Alaska Community Action on Toxics, the use of Corexit during the Exxon Valdez oil spill caused "respiratory, nervous system, liver, kidney and blood disorders" in people.[9] According to the EPA, Corexit is more toxic than dispersants made by several competitors and less effective in handling southern Louisiana crude.[14]

Reportedly Corexit is toxic to marine life and helps keep spilled oil submerged. The quantities used in the Gulf will create 'unprecedented underwater damage to organisms.'[15] 9527A is also hazardous for humans: 'May cause injury to red blood cells (hemolysis), kidney or the liver'.[16]"

Doesn't really sound as it really improves the situation. It sure makes BPs public relations efforts easier, though.

You further state :

"I wager its less than 20,000 bbls a day, my best guess would be 17,000 bbls a day or thereabouts."

That makes it better, exactly how?

"All the estimates attributed to BP are in fact nothiong more than BP stating other peoples estimates. No one knows. BP have said this every time I have watched them declare a flow rate estimate. Its not our number, we dont know."

So, are you insinuating that BP, who has a major catastrophy to manage, is relying on some spurious blog posts to come up with the numbers, or do they just pull the numbers out of thin air?

That would let them look even stupider then they already do.

Anyway, looking forward to your rebutal. Specifically since I think most of your reasoning is based on a).



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