Invisible Oyster killer

An invisible killer is threatening many businesses dealing in shellfish both on a large and small scale.

Its name is Vibrio tubiashii, it’s a bacteria that destroys the likes of Oyster at the larval stage, and has been reported to affect harvests back to the 1960’s.

The problem is, it seems to have made itself quite at home on the US Pacific coast, since it settled two years ago, and shows no signs of dissappearing.

Scientists and farmers are not only distraught by the devestation is has caused to their harvest, but are baffled as to why it still remains a threat.

The Vibrio tubiashii has already led to the closure of the well known Whiskey Creek, which is one of the biggest hatcheries for the delicacy in the US, and poses a threat to decrease the $111m industry dramatically if a strategy is not set in place soon.

As a prevention method, a $180,000 filtration system has been fitted to Whiskey Creek’s water network, which now is producing around 30-40% of its capacity.

As there is no specific explanation for the sudden attack from the bacteria, farmers currently have two theories, either it’s an occurance happening at set intervals, say once every 100 years, or it’s directly linked to global warming.