The East-West Management Plan

The East-West Management Plan, contrary to what one might assume, is not a plan to bring peace to Iraq. The plan is a new way to protect the public from shellfish poisoning while avoiding unnecessary closure of shellfish harvest in areas where there is no danger.

Shellfish harvest can be closed because of excessive rainwater runoff, excessive bacteria in the water or harmful algae blooms. Harmful algae blooms include "red tide."

Red Tide is a population explosion of a toxic dynoflagellate alga, which is concentrated by shellfish and poisonous to humans. The population explosions result from nutrients that fertilize marine waters. The sources of the nutrients include runoff following hurricanes, coastal real estate developments and pulp mill waste dumped in the Gulf of Mexico. Offshore blooms blow into shellfish areas and cause closures.

The State of Florida, Division of Aquaculture has developed the East-West Management Plan to deal with red tide, following federal guidelines. If the numbers of red tide algae reach a threshold in a given area, harvest is closed. When the numbers fall below the threshold and the shellfish meat is found toxin free the area is reopened. The East-West Management Plan is a refinement of the monitoring area map for red tide management.

The new monitoring plan is designed to keep shellfish harvesting open as much as possible while avoiding an unhealthy seafood product. The plan, which was announced December 14, is an example of government regulators working with the industry they regulate. Now, let's get the government regulators (The Department of Environmental Protection) to help cut down on dumping red tide producing nutrients into the Gulf of Mexico. The DEP can and should stop pulp mill waste from being dumped into the Gulf.