Disclaimer: These postings were sent to us from a variety of media sources over the Internet. The content has not been reviewed for scientific accuracy or edited in any manner.
By DOUG FRASER STAFF WRITER ORLEANS - Monomoy off limits
Chatham Shellfish Constable Stuart Moore had a busy morning yesterday, but it wasn't because he was out patrolling the tidal flats. Instead, he was hurriedly putting up signs, spray-painted a fluorescent orange, warning shellfishermen that Monomoy Island, one of the state's most productive shellfishing areas, is closed because of red tide.''Losing Monomoy and the Southway is devastating,'' Moore said. He estimated 80 percent to 90 percent of the soft-shell clams currently being harvested in Chatham were coming out of those two areas.
''Soft-shell clams are our biggest crop by far, and the vast majority of people who shellfish in Chatham are (digging soft-shell clams) right now,'' he said.
Amid what is perhaps the most extensive red tide bloom in New England history, some areas in Chatham remain open. But they are nowhere near as productive as the flats around Monomoy and will not support the 300 shellfishermen who make part or all of their living clamming.
Soft-shell clams are popular summer fare steamed and fried. There is little demand for them after summer passes. And a closure that may last a month or more is bad news for fishermen who need to pay bills now and won't be able to make up for lost income later when soft-shell clams are not on anybody's fall menu.
''It's really horrible. I have steamers from Chatham that I bought a few days ago, which are very expensive,'' said Janet Demetri, co-owner of the Friendly Fisherman in North Eastham. ''I'm really scrambling to get mussels, littlenecks, anything else, but everybody else is scrambling for them, too, and we're paying prices we've never seen before.''
Bourne selectman and clam shack owner Skip Barlow worried that clam-shucking operations, which separate clam meat from shells for frying, will be hit hard. He said that one such business in Wareham employs about 50 people and that there is a similar one in Chatham.
Red tide has closed down all shellfishing from Maine to Cape Cod, with only northern Maine and Canada left open as significant shellfishing areas. Demetri said she's already paying more per gallon for frying clams than she did last August when a combination of red tide and heavy rain shut down Canada and everywhere north of the Cape.
Steamers yesterday were $1.50 per pound more than they were at their highest price in August, she said. And that was before Monomoy, the last remaining major steamer port in New England, was closed.
Toxin buildup likely
Shellfish taken from Monomoy that were analyzed late Wednesday night showed levels of 70 micrograms of red tide toxin per 100 grams of shellfish meat. Athough that is below the threshold of 80 micrograms, there had been virtually no trace in Monomoy shellfish samples analyzed last week. With that kind of buildup in toxins, the state Division of Marine Fisheries ruled the closure necessary.
''I'll bet you money it's 80 micrograms today,'' marine fisheries chief shellfish biologist Michael Hickey said yesterday morning.
Other samples from Cape shellfishing areas analyzed Wednesday night were even higher, showing that this unprecedented bloom of red tide Alexandrium algae in Cape waters is translating into toxic shellfish.
A state monitoring station at the Chatham Fish Pier showed 202 micrograms per 100 grams of meat; test results in Eastham ran to 827 micrograms; in Provincetown it was 558, and in Orleans, 2,014. That is still not close to the truly toxic levels of 28,000 or more micrograms per 100 grams of meat that have been seen in other outbreaks, but the state Division of Marine Fisheries has only enough manpower to test meats from areas that are still open. Hickey said the division is ignoring the real hot spots, like Sandwich, where the cell counts of Alexandrium in seawater samples are extremely high at 40,000 cells per liter.
With levels that high, Hickey said, the state Department of Public Health also has been monitoring the red tide outbreak in swimming areas with high algae concentrations. When algae counts reach 40,000 and higher, the water can turn a rusty red and that could cause skin irritations and mild rashes, Hickey said. No beaches have been closed thus far. A different type of red tide algae, common in Florida and other Southern states, causes respiratory problems when drying algae on beaches become airborne and can be inhaled.
Swallowing water OK
Alexandrium algae produce saxotoxins that can cause numbness, paralysis, even death when ingested, but toxic levels wouldn't be reached simply by swallowing seawater. The toxins get concentrated in shellfish meats as the animals feed on the algae. Only when people eat shellfish can they be exposed to enough saxotoxin to cause paralytic shellfish poisoning.
Barlow is worried people might not be aware of what red tide is or are ignoring the signs. He said he saw a digger out yesterday working the flats near his house, which are posted for red tide closure.
''There are signs, but they're at either end of the beach,'' he said. ''People come down on a Friday night and they might not know and just want to get a few clams.''
There is some worry that big schools of mackerel feeding near Provincetown, where testing has revealed high levels of toxic algae and toxin in shellfish, could also end up with poison in their fatty tissues. Humpback whales, dolphins and seals all feed on mackerel and could be poisoned.
The bloom started in Maine in the first week of May. Two separate northeasters pushed the cells south into Massachusetts Bay and then into Cape Cod Bay, where major blooms are rarely seen. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution researchers released drifters into the current carrying the cells south, and most of those drifters went down along the Outer Cape and off Monomoy.
Hickey said Nantucket could be next; samples taken there, and on Martha's Vineyard, have tested clean thus far.
Doug Fraser can be reached at dfraser@capecodonline.com.
(Published: June 3, 2005)