[T-TOP]

Originally Posted by MathGeek

Legislative pressure is a great idea, but I expect it to take a while to work.

I've begun to think outside the box a bit. Do you know that there are a host of new regulations that the oyster harvesters need to comply with and also that DHH has the authority to close oystering grounds for health reasons? One idea that has potential is to begin photographing and documenting the oystering activities, both to improve our documentation of the ecological damage done by the dredging and also to gather information and make reports regarding non-compliance with the regulations. If state officials give oyster harvesters a pass on non-compliance, I don't think it would be too hard to get the FDA involved to shut down non-compliant operators, and some other states are very eager to cite health concerns as reasons to stop buying Louisiana Oysters. There is real potential to give the local oyster industry a black eye on failure to comply with new health regulations. Give some of the new regs a careful read, and I bet some action items come to mind:

http://new.dhh.louisiana.gov/index.cfm/page/629/n/210

http://new.dhh.louisiana.gov/assets/...n_05102014.pdf

http://new.dhh.louisiana.gov/assets/...hure_14x17.pdf

http://www.wlf.louisiana.gov/news/37809

http://oysterlease.wlf.la.gov/oyster...tification.pdf

How many signatures on a petition to stop the dredging do you think it would take to get some attention? Along with the graph that we saw last night.... that clearly shows a decline.