Louisiana - Scientists study sick crabs from Terrebonne Parish

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Scientists study sick crabs from Terrebonne Parish

Associated Press
Posted on March 28, 2011 at 2:36 AM

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) ? Scientists are studying to see what is ailing some blue crabs in Terrebonne Parish.

Tests have found blue crabs from Terrebonne that have been infested by marine microbes that clog the gills. Scientists say the crabs could be suffering from an infectious disease called white spot.

Fishermen and crab buyers have been reporting a spike in crab deaths.

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http://www.wwltv.com/news/local/118730514.html

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Re: Louisiana - Scientists study sick crabs from Terrebonne Parish

No easy answers for crabbers

Published: Sunday, March 27, 2011 at 6:01 a.m.

Excerpt:

Anyone who attended a meeting last week in Baton Rouge hoping to hear an easy answer to the state's ongoing problems with its crab crop was disappointed.
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There is an ongoing suspicion that the crabs' ? and by extension the crabbers' ? difficulties are effects of the oil spill.

During the meeting, scientists recounted the dangers posed by the oil itself as well as the huge amounts of dispersants that were used to break up the oil in the Gulf.

?One million gallons of dispersant was applied to the surface,? said Tulane University scientist Erin Gray. ?That's the stuff we have to worry about when we are talking about blue crabs.?

Gray also said her team has found orange droplets of an unknown substance on baby crabs across the Gulf Coast, raising concerns for future generations of the animal.

Full text:

http://www.houmatoday.com/article/20110327/OPINION/110329538

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Re: Louisiana - Scientists study sick crabs from Terrebonne Parish

Blobs in crab larvae characteristic of dispersant

<TABLE><TBODY><TR vAlign=top><TD></TD><TD>Reported by: Shelley Brown, Weekend Anchor
Email: sbrown@fox8tv.net
Contributor: Tammie Mills, Photographer
Last Update: 7/30/2010 11:24 pm

Excerpt:

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
On May 20, 2010, EPA administrator Lisa Jackson said, "this is unprecedented volumes of dispersants used so far" when talking about the chemical dispersant known as Corexit being used to break down oil in the Gulf of Mexico.

That's what UNO's Martin O'Connell, Ph.D, who studies aquatic organisms that move through the water, says is the problem. That the volume of the EPA's pre-approved dispersant used to break down the oil probably turned it into small droplets, making it easy for a mix of oil and dispersants to finds its way under a shell.

He said, "something with a shell, a small shell, a shrimp or a crab.. it kind of gets stuck in some places, and if it can survive the actual toxicity and shed that shell, the oil can be released. If they can't survive though it's stuck there then there's a problem."

http://www.fox8live.com/news/local/story/Blobs-in-crab-larvae-characteristic-of-dispersant/IJoKO4b-W0GsfjK1L_SkAQ.cspx