Cat Point, East Hole oyster bars to reopen Thursday

BREAKING NEWS:

Winter harvesting areas 1642 and 1601, which encompass the Cat Point and East Hole oyster bars, will reopen at sunrise Thursday. Test results were finalized at 5:12 p.m. by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and found no polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and no biomarkers for sewage. Tests by the Florida Wildlife Research Institute found the presence of decayed plant material, diatoms, cyanobacteria and zooplankton.

A foul-smelling stretch of water, just south of the causeway near the Eastpoint shoreline, prompted a closure Monday morning of two of Apalachicola Bay’s most productive oyster bars, at Cat Point and East Hole.

Chris Brooks, a spokesman from the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services’ Division of Aquaculture, called the shutdown of winter harvesting areas 1642 and 1601 “a precautionary emergency closure.”

He said scientists with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection were testing for bacteria, fecal coliforms, algae and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and that his department’s routine testing for fecal material in the harvesting area had come back negative. Water samples also being analyzed by the Franklin County Health Department to measure bacteria levels in the bay water.

Shaun May, interim director of environmental health at the county health department said a health advisory has been issued, and residents and visitors are urged to exercise caution. "We are asking people to avoid entering the water in the affected area or participating in water-related activities," said. "Our first priority is to protect the health and safety of the people who may visit the bay. The advisory will remain in effect until sample results show the water is safe."

The state watch office of the Florida Division of Emergency Management got word of the possible pollution on Sunday, and asked Pam Brownell, the county’s director of emergency management, to provide “eyes on the ground” as to the situation.

“It smells like sewage to me,” she said, “You really don’t see any fecal material, though.”

She provided a rough estimate of about 10,000 to 15,000 gallons of affected seawater. “There was quite a bit,” said Brownell.

Brooks said staffers from his department looked into a possible sewage leak, but were unable to confirm that. He said they found no evidence of any sewage pipe leaking, but also detected “some sort of strong smell, like human waste. They were very concerned about what they had seen. Based on that and this emergency management bulletin, that sounded very serious to us,”

Brooks said Leslie Palmer, director of the Division of Aquaculture, spoke with George Allen, chairman of the board of the Eastpoint Water and Sewer District, and he told her no malfunctions had been reported at the sewage facility or any of the lift stations. “Everything was good on his end, we did not suspect that facility,” said Brooks.

Officers from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission assisted in enforcement of the closure, ordering harvesters to dump any oysters they had back into the water.

“We’ve been closed right before Christmas before. It’s frustrating,” said Shannon Hartsfield, president of the Franklin County Seafood Workers Association, as he dumped oysters harvested by his father, Abraham, back into gulf waters. He estimated that about 100 to 120 boats had been working East Hole. The Miles, in the western area of the bay, remains open.

Hartsfield said he could understand the state acting swiftly, because he knows what a headache a product recall can be on the processors. “When they did the recall, I know all the oystermen complained about it, but it hurt the dealers pretty bad,” he said.

Hartsfield said any product confiscated from a cooler Monday would be taken and disposed of at the shell pile at the Mill Pond in Apalachicola.

He said he didn’t have an idea what had caused the foul patch. “I can’t figure it,” said Hartsfield. “You can smell it, there’s no doubt it’s there. Where did it come from out of the blue right there? If it’s raw sewage, it has to be from some vessel. That’s a lot of sewage from a boat to dump, it’s almost like from a sewage container.”

He wondered whether any of the work being done by Progress Electric on new transmission lines spanning the Apalachicola River, or work by the state to remove leftover pilings from the old St. George Island bridge, might have contributed to the problem.

“This is not a decision we take lightly at all, because of the emergency nature,” said Brooks. “But why wait until the end of the day, and have to get product recalled? “This is serious for public health and for the health of the industry.”