Officials are investigating a mysterious oyster die-off in Plaquemines Parish waters that farmers say has claimed millions of pounds of oysters.
Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Oyster Program Manager Carolina Bourque said the first die-off was reported on January 4th.
“All of a sudden oysters start dying, which is a very unusual thing to observe in the winter months,” said Bourque.
The exact total area impacted and the official number of oysters killed is unverified.
Bourque said there’s no obvious answer yet as to what caused the die-off. She says these kinds of die-offs are much more common in summer, but not as common in the winter when their metabolism is low.
Bourque said this was a tough pill to swallow for fishermen who were already dealing with losses stemming from the Mississippi River Flood in 2019.
“All of the leases in the public grounds were in recovery mode and of course we had the restaurants closed due to the pandemic,” said Bourque.
Harvesters believe the worst of the die-offs are now over, but smaller die-offs have been detected in recent days.