E360 Video: Oyster Aquaculture Offers
Hope for Louisiana Fishery and the Gulf
To view this content, you must have Javascript enabled in your browser preferences. You will also need to download the latest Flash Player. 
Among the most serious environmental consequences of last year’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico was the damage done to Louisiana’s oyster beds, one of the world’s last thriving wild oyster fisheries. In many areas, 60 to 80 percent of the oysters were wiped out, not by oil, but by the massive infusion of freshwater diverted from the Mississippi River into wetlands in an effort to keep oil from the coast. As a result, oysters were killed en masse by the reduced salinity. In this Yale Environment 360 video, journalist Jon Brand reports on an experimental oyster farm and hatchery on Grand Isle, Louisiana, that offers hope for a smoother recovery for the Gulf’s oysters and its oystermen. At the hatchery, where they raise oysters suspended in the Gulf’s waters, Louisiana State University marine biologist John Supan and his colleagues are optimistic that while oyster aquaculture will never replace traditional methods of harvesting oysters in Louisiana, it could supplement them and take pressure off the struggling wild oyster fishery.
Yale Environment 360 is
a publication of the
Yale School of Forestry
& Environmental Studies.
SEARCH e360
CONNECT
Twitter: YaleE360e360 on Facebook
Donate to e360
View mobile site
Bookmark
Share e360
Email newsletter
Subscribe to our feed:
ABOUT
About e360Contact
Submission Guidelines
Reprints
e360 VIDEO
The Warriors of Qiugang, a Yale Environment 360 video that chronicles the story of a Chinese village’s fight against a polluting chemical plant, was nominated for a 2011 Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject). Watch the video.
DEPARTMENTS
OpinionReports
Analysis
Interviews
e360 Digest
Video Reports
TOPICS
BiodiversityBusiness & Innovation
Climate
Energy
Forests
Oceans
Policy & Politics
Pollution & Health
Science & Technology
Sustainability
Urbanization
Water
REGIONS
Antarctica and the ArcticAfrica
Asia
Australia
Central & South America
Europe
Middle East
North America
e360 VIDEO REPORT
As temperatures rise and water supplies dry up, tribes in East Africa increasingly are coming into conflict. A Yale Environment 360 video reports on a phenomenon that could become more common: how worsening drought will pit groups — and nations — against one another. Watch the video.
e360 MOBILE
from Yale
Environment 360 is now available for mobile devices at e360.yale.edu/mobile.
Top Image: aerial view of Russia. © Google & TerraMetrics.
e360 VIDEO REPORT
Leveling Appalachia: The Legacy of Mountaintop Removal Mining, an e360 video examining the environmental and human impacts of this mining practice, won the award for best video in the 2010 National Magazine Awards for Digital Media. Watch the video.
OF INTEREST
RESOURCES
