Stone crab claws are a luxury commodity, freshly available for only seven months of the year and served on special occasions, including for Thanksgiving at Mar-a-Lago, President Trump’s Palm Beach estate. But they help employ an industry of fishermen who are the first ones to struggle when the catch drops. Naturally occurring red tide takes place off the state’s coast almost every year. The blue-green algae, which grows when stagnant warm waters get nutrients from runoff agricultural fertilizers, flowed down the Caloosahatchee River into the Gulf of Mexico, where it mixed with red tide. In the 1970s, scientists studied the effect of red tide on stone crabs and found little to worry about, said Dr. Ryan L. Gandy, the lead crab research biologist at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Source: New York Times December 16, 2018 09:56 UTC