Three years after being pummeled by Hurricane Ike and a year after the nation’s worst oil spill left it spinning, Texas’ seafood industry was hoping for a rebound. Instead, it’s being slammed by another, naturally occurring, intruder the red tide.
Blooms of the toxic algae responsible for the red tide are the largest they have been off the Texas coast since 2000, putting the state’s oyster season at risk.
Private reefs are closed now, because of the outbreak, and the Nov. 1 date for the opening of harvesting on public reefs could be delayed, officials said.
Red tide has not affected Texas’ shrimp season, which has featured at least average catches in the first three months that boats have ventured offshore.
But oyster producers are worried about when they will be cleared to begin work and how many oysters they may find when they get there.
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