Red Tide Alert-2017
- Thread starter MIRAMAR
- Start date
There still is red tide restrictions: http://rockypoint360.com/at-sea-and-on-the-beach-rockypoint360-newswrap/
So what does this mean to tourists? Do not buy clams or oysters for a year or so in case some bad ones were harvested and kept in the freezer until the ban was lifted? Is the little restaurant by the oyster farm at Morua estuary closed? Are the oyster farms out of business for a while?
Jungle Jim
Guest
Hey Audsley.............
I'm sure that no clams or oysters are kept frozen for later use in RP. The standard when eating so called "fresh" clams and oysters is for them to be alive. That means the animal still has the strength to keep its two shell halves clamped tight.
If you do buy "fresh" in RP be sure to inspect every single one, as those animals may have been sitting there for days. Eating a dead one can be as hazardous as eating a live one infected with Red Tide. Most intertidal clams have evolved to stay alive through several hours of exposure during low tides. Many of them can survive a day or more if kept cool, shaded and wet. The large white clams that you see in the fish market are deep water types that cannot survive being out of the water for very long.
I've seen them sitting in tubs of water there as if that will keep them happy..wrong! All that does is kill them even faster as they will deplete the oxygen in the water in short order. I've told those guys many times that a simple aquarium aerator will keep them happy and guess what? Some of them are actually doing it now.
As for your safety when eating them after a Red Tide event, in my opinion I'd feel safe after a few days as the toxin is concentrated in the gut of those animals and is rapidly passed through in a matter of hours. As for buying them frozen, I would never do it since you don't have a clue as to the condition of the animal when it was harvested. I won't even eat those so-called "fresh" but dead oysters that are sold in a jar at our local super markets.
JJ
I'm sure that no clams or oysters are kept frozen for later use in RP. The standard when eating so called "fresh" clams and oysters is for them to be alive. That means the animal still has the strength to keep its two shell halves clamped tight.
If you do buy "fresh" in RP be sure to inspect every single one, as those animals may have been sitting there for days. Eating a dead one can be as hazardous as eating a live one infected with Red Tide. Most intertidal clams have evolved to stay alive through several hours of exposure during low tides. Many of them can survive a day or more if kept cool, shaded and wet. The large white clams that you see in the fish market are deep water types that cannot survive being out of the water for very long.
I've seen them sitting in tubs of water there as if that will keep them happy..wrong! All that does is kill them even faster as they will deplete the oxygen in the water in short order. I've told those guys many times that a simple aquarium aerator will keep them happy and guess what? Some of them are actually doing it now.
As for your safety when eating them after a Red Tide event, in my opinion I'd feel safe after a few days as the toxin is concentrated in the gut of those animals and is rapidly passed through in a matter of hours. As for buying them frozen, I would never do it since you don't have a clue as to the condition of the animal when it was harvested. I won't even eat those so-called "fresh" but dead oysters that are sold in a jar at our local super markets.
JJ
I have many times and lived to tell about it. Don't get me wrong, those jarred oysters are primarily for cooking, in my opinion. Stuff like oyster dressing, or perhaps making oysters Rockefeller or something along those lines. But, I have eaten them right out of the jar on several occasions, smothered in a hot horseradish cocktail sauce. Here in AZ, those oysters are HUGE and nearly all come from Washington state.
I'd much rather have freshly shucked ones on the half-shell. I still remember sitting out on the patio in St. Mary's County, Maryland with my father-in-law... shucking and slurping down a bushel basket of fresh oysters, washing 'em down with his favorite Old Milwaukee beer at 6:30 in the morning. Breakfast of CHAMPIONS!!!!!!
hyeah: