PROVIDENCE – The price of clams may go way up this summer. Rhode Island environmental officials are paying close attention to a new report that the New England shellfish industry from Maine to Cape Cod may face the threat of widespread red tide outbreaks this spring and summer.
Rhode Island has never had such an outbreak, according to Joseph Migliore, principal environmental scientist with the R.I. Department of Environmental Management’s Office of Water Resources. “We hope that history repeats itself, and it doesn’t end up in Rhode Island,” he said. “But we can’t assume that, and we always have to be vigilant and to continue looking,” Migliore continued. He said the shellfish industry contributes about $30 million a year to the state’s economy.
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A seafloor survey conducted last fall by the Gulf of Maine Toxicity project found strong indicators that this year will see a significant bloom of the toxic algae that causes red tide. Large quantities of microscopic, seed-like cysts of the organism that causes red tide were found to be 60 percent more prevalent than the amount observed preceding the huge red tide bloom in 2005.
Also worrisome, according to scientists, is the fact that the abundance of cysts appears to have expanded to the south, meaning that the red tide outbreak may affect coastal areas much earlier in the season.
As a result, shellfish beds in Massachusetts and Maine may be shut down much earlier in the season. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said they issued the warning now in part to give harvesters and aquaculture businesses time to prepare, as well as provide restaurants time to make contingency plans.
