"West Coast oyster farmers are fielding calls from farmers on the Gulf of Mexico as the work begins to replace the shellfish breeding beds damaged by the massive oil spill.

But while shellfish farmers in the Pacific Northwest are anxious to help, they say they have little to offer.

Climate change has wreaked havoc on seed oyster hatcheries on the west coast, leaving no extra capacity to send to the Gulf shellfish farmers who are looking at totally rebuilding their stock following the explosion April 20 of BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil rig. Though no one knows for sure how much oil has leaked it is estimated to be about 39 million U.S. gallons."

Clare Ogilvie reports for the Vancouver Province July 25, 2010. [2]