3 ms·
Yes, oysters and similar molluscs filter the water column and hence improve water clarity... but they're the filter. They may accumulate a wide variety of inte
by photochemsyn 4y ago
Yes, oysters and similar molluscs filter the water column and hence improve water clarity... but they're the filter. They may accumulate a wide variety of interesting materials and compounds, such as microplastics, heavy metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, organochlorine and organophosphate pesticides and herbicides... and then people eat this equivalent of a swimming pool filter? No thanks.
For example:
(2008) "Contamination profiles of heavy metals, organochlorine pesticides, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and alkylphenols in sediment and oyster collected from marsh/estuarine Savannah GA, USA", Kumar et al.
https://sci-hub.se/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2007.08.011 https://sci-hub.se/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2007.08.011
- peatmoss 4y agoMany formerly-polluted environments are used to produce food after bioremediation. Farming oysters that are then not used for human consumption until the environment can support farmed oysters that are fit for human consumption is possible. Also, not all the toxins that oysters filter from the water stay in the oyster. Much of what they filter ends up sequestered in the sediment layer.
- ch4s3 4y agoNot only that, but it provides a good economic incentive to improve water quality.