MIAMI BEACH, FLA. (WSVN) - A toxic algae phenomenon known as the red tide has severely impacted the number of stone crabs that can survive.
Florida’s months-long battle over red tide is hurting one industry important to the region quite hard: stone crabs.
The state responsible for roughly 98 percent of the country’s stone crabs is feeling the pain of the shellfish shortage.
Stephen Sawitz of Joe’s Stone Crab restaurant in Miami Beach said they started the stone crab craze almost a century ago, and now their name is on the line.
“Stone crabs are the lifeblood right now of the restaurant,” Sawitz said. “The lifeblood meaning it drives the restaurant. It helps pay the bills.”
Sawitz added he is already seeing a steady rise in prices.
“They’re up to $69.95 right now,” he said. “That is a 10 dollar increase, which is very big for us.”
Researchers said stone crabs exposed to the toxic algae for an extended period of time can not only kill the crabs but their larvae as well.
“Red tide can also cause hypoxia, areas of the seafloor that have low or no oxygen at all,” Greg Tolley, a marine researcher at Florida Gulf Coast University, said. “You see decreased feeding. You see an increase in mortality. They start dying after a few days.”
Numbers are dropping quick. Some of the hardest hit areas are near South Florida, including Tampa, Sarasota and Naples.
Fishermen are seeing this first-hand.
Eddie Barnhill, a third-generation fisherman, said the drop in stone crabs forced him to sell his business, changing his career and way of life.
“You’re born into the fishing industry. You’re born with saltwater in your veins, I would say,” Barnhill said. “It takes a special person to go out and fight the weather that we fight to put that crab on the table for the people that enjoy it.”
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