Massachusetts Declares State of Emergency over Red Tide

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MELISSA BLOCK, host:

For the first time ever, Massachusetts has declared a state of emergency because of red tide. The red time bloom is an explosion of algae that contaminates shellfish. It's been working its way down the New England coast for two months now. The red tide affects clams, oysters and muscles, making them toxic to humans. It doesn't affect lobsters, crabs, shrimp or fish, and it poses no harm to swimmers. But if you're a shell-fisherman in Massachusetts, these are not good times. Andrew Morgan runs a business called Native Cape Cod Shellfish. He joins us from north Eastham.

Thanks for being with us.

Mr. ANDREW MORGAN (Proprietor, Native Cape Cod Shellfish): Thank you, Melissa.

BLOCK: And, Mr. Morgan, what do you usually fish?

Mr. MORGAN: I fish for all the above species that you listed: muscles, steamers, which are soft-shell clams, hard-shell, quahogs and oysters.

BLOCK: Right now, what are you fishing?

Mr. MORGAN: I'm lobstering right now part-time, doing what I can to get by. But the commerce in the shellfish has come to a dead stop.

BLOCK: Have you ever been shut down like this before?

Mr. MORGAN: There's never been a closure of this magnitude since I've been in the industry.

BLOCK: Well, what's the effect of that? If you talked to your fellow shell fishermen, what are folks doing?

Mr. MORGAN: People are doing what they can, but, I mean, they're really--people, you know, started feeling the effects, like, right now. So they're going to do what they can, but there's a lot of people who are--face bankruptcy, losing homes. Even if they do open it up, there are a lot of people who have to get back into the buying circle of who they're going to sell to, and you're giving leverage to buyers. Probably 90 percent of the shellfish being sold is from Canada right now.

BLOCK: Well, how do you get that market back? Once this red tide passes, which it eventually will, how do you get back in there?

Mr. MORGAN: Well, there's no guarantees in this world. You have to produce a quality product and hope that things continue the way they have been.

BLOCK: Well, I guess, because of this state of the emergency that the governor, Mitt Romney, declared yesterday, you could get low-interest loans to help you out. Does that interest you?

Mr. MORGAN: That's wonderful. That's wonderful. Let's borrow money that we don't have and pay interest on it. You know, that doesn't work for me. That does not work for me. You know, I mean, if you don't have an income, borrowing money, I mean, sure, it may help out in a certain scenario, but it just--that just prolongs the problem.

BLOCK: Governor Romney yesterday said about this red tide, `It's nature doing its thing,' and I guess I wonder whether you see it that way as somebody who lives on the water. Do you figure this is just part of the cycle that you have to ride through?

Mr. MORGAN: I do. Unfortunately, you know, you can't predict the weather, nature. And the conditions were so epic for this happening. I mean, we probably went close to 35 days without sunlight, and it was cool, and there was quite a bit of rain, and it just--a massive bloom occurred. This is a naturally occurring thing, and I think it's important for the listeners to know that this isn't some sort of a nuclear spill. This is something that will pass, unfortunately, not as soon as we'd like.

BLOCK: Well, for people heading up to the cape this summer, any sense of whether they may be able to pop a Cape Cod clam into their mouth?

Mr. MORGAN: We're looking at six to eight weeks from now.

BLOCK: But it sounds like you might be missing out on most of the summer then.

Mr. MORGAN: Yeah.

BLOCK: And how do you handle that?

Mr. MORGAN: I don't know. There's no real answer. These aren't good times, to say the least.

BLOCK: Well, I hope you get back out there soon.

Mr. MORGAN: Thanks.

BLOCK: Andrew Morgan owns Native Cape Cod Shellfish in Eastham, Massachusetts.

And you're listening to ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News.

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