Red Tide Closes All Oyster Harvesting in Texas
October 27, 2011 | 1 min to read
An eerie algae bloom that has painted chunks of Texas' coast a reddish brown — and even a yellow-green in some places — has forced state health officials to ban oyster harvesting before the season officially begins.
The Department of State Health Services announced Wednesday that it was banning commercial and recreational harvesting of oysters, clams and mussels because the "red tide" algae bloom contains a toxin that can lead to shellfish poisoning in humans.
The algae boom, which is typically present along Texas' coast beginning in September, is worse this year because of a historic drought and unprecedented heat. Already the algae, which thrive in warm, salty water, killed 3 million fish. It is the largest algae bloom in more than a decade along the Texas Gulf Coast, said Meredith Byrd, a Texas Parks and Wildlife marine biologist.
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