DMR: Oystermen to work moving oysters to safety
BILOXI, Miss. (AP) – The Mississippi Department of Marine Resources has unveiled a twofold plan that would both put oyster harvesters back to work and save an oyster reef from possible damage.
The Sun Herald reports (http://bit.ly/1URa5Kb) the auditorium at the DMR building in Biloxi was standing-room only Wednesday. Oystermen were thrown out of work Dec. 11 when the red tide algae bloom closed the oyster beds.
DMR Executive Director Jamie Miller says the plan is to use area commercial fishermen to move oysters from St. Joe reef to reefs in Biloxi Bay and Pass Christian. Miller said the oysters need to be moved before fresh water from the recently opened Bonnet Carre Spillway moves into the St. Joe reef.
Officials say the live oysters are stacked and transported to a reef in safer waters, where they are released.
