Louisiana oyster beds remain empty after BP disaster

It took Louisiana's oyster industry years to recover from Hurricane Katrina By Paul Adams  BBC News, Louisiana Louisiana's oyster beds have not recovered from the US's worst environmental catastrophe, the Deepwater Horizon oil-rig disaster, and some fishermen fear they never will. We were fishing at the end of the world- or at least a place that felt like it. Grand Isle is one of the final precarious fragments of land where the myriad bayous of the Mississippi delta give way to the open water of the Gulf of Mexico. Around us, hungry frigate birds watched as we headed for the oyster beds.  For the first time in my life, I had oysters for breakfast  Special report: BP oil disaster Pelicans swooped by in formation, low and effortless, and a pair of dolphins raced just ahead of the bow, daring each other to get closer and occasionally rolling sideways to check we suitably impressed. We were less than 100 miles (160 km) from the wreck of the Deepwater Horizon but everything looked pristine under a blazing sun. And the oysters! As big as the palm of my hand, succulent and briny. It was still early and so, for the first time in my life, I had oysters for breakfast. But the atmosphere aboard the boat was sombre. The oysters were good but hardly plentiful. At this, the season of peak demand, far too many were simply dead. Oyster supplies are down following measures taken to disperse the oil Not, as you might think, coated in sticky oil or even poisoned by chemical dispersants but killed off, as luck would have it, by fresh water. Millions of gallons from the Mississippi River were hurriedly diverted into the bays and marshes of the delta to keep the oil from rolling in, earlier in the year - but this upset the delicate balance of fresh and salty conditions the oysters need to survive. READ FULL STORY HERE