Shellfish Warning in Scotland

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Toddy

Mod
Mod
Jan 21, 2005
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4,570
S. Lanarkshire
It makes you wonder though; this is a natural phenomenon (albeit perhaps now rather encouraged in some places by agricultural run-off and sewerage outflows though those sea lochs are hardly on the beaten tracks or next to suburbia) and must have been so in the past too. How did folks manage to eat shellfish safely then ?
I suppose the old sayings about only when there's an R in the month, were folks trying to make sense of it ?

M
 

Janne

Sent off - Not allowed to play
Feb 10, 2016
12,330
2,293
Grand Cayman, Norway, Sweden
Correct. R in a month = cold months = colder water.
Check the average water temperature month by month.

But, having said that, in the old days, dying from a shellfish poisoning was just another way to die.
Accidents, weak immune system due to chronic malnourishment ( leading to low resistance to infections), murders, all led to a low life expectancy.

Gods give, Gods take!
 

baggins

Full Member
Apr 20, 2005
1,563
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Coventry (and surveying trees uk wide)
i did some work in the algae growing industry many years ago (for producing bio fuels and cosmetics). And some of the guys i worked with reckoned the increase in coastal fish farms and the introduction of manufactured feeds can increase the susceptibility of shallow waters to HABs (Harmful Agae Blooms). There were several guys doing research into it.
 
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Robson Valley

Full Member
Nov 24, 2014
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McBride, BC
First Nations Elders here on the Pacific Northwest coast of British Columbia say that Paralytic was another way to die. That was the test.
Our oysters are great big things, like 8-10cm body mass. Apparently, sucking the juice off a single bad one of those and you are terminal.
Your lips go numb and you say your farewells.

The last bloom was a monster from California in the south, to Alaska in the north. Everywhere. Gone now, they say.
Salmon pen farming influence? The verdict isn't in yet. Viruses & Sea Lice for certain.
But the First Nations are steadily driving the businesses out of their traditional territories. That's a good thing.
The FN do not turn around and set up their own pens. They continue to grow clams, oysters and mussels
as they have done for 10,000+ years.
 

Robson Valley

Full Member
Nov 24, 2014
9,959
2,664
McBride, BC
My po.st #5. Just out on the coast from where I live.
No worry, it's all fact which no longer needs any more proof.

There is a culinary concept here which is called "Ocean Wise."
It's a textbook & cookbook which examines the harvesting practices for many marine species, all over the planet.
Factual data, not Dr. Google's musings.
 

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