There was a grand old gent, Harry Varner, who for many years ran the concession and bait shop at the Naples City Pier. He could be a curmudgeon but was easy to like and was a fixture on the pier.
I asked Harry one day what the contraption was that was mounted outside the shop wall, next to the railing. It was an olive drab metal box, securely locked, with a pipe extending down into the Gulf. It had a warning to not disturb, property of the US Government.
"Belongs to the Department of Agriculture, somebody like that," Harry said.
I raised my eyebrows, waiting.
"Don't know what it's for. They come by every so often and fiddle around over there with it. I never paid much attention. Countin' crabs or some such."
My interest aroused, I asked Harry to call me the next time the tenders showed up. In a couple of weeks they did. I hurried to the pier and found a man working with a crank that was in the opened box. Turning the crank raised a box out of the water and up the long pipe. The mysterious box was similar to a crab trap, but much more durably fabricated. After identifying myself I asked what he was doing.
"I'm taking the contaminate count," he said. "Trying to get a handle on how much DDT, fertilizer, mercury and other poisons have made in to the Gulf."
"How's that work?"
"We trap crustaceans in this box. Crabs, shrimp, lobsters, anything with a shell. Then we analyze them and see how many poisons are in their system. Crustaceans are one of the ocean's filters. Anything that goes into them, effectively, never comes out. Dies off in half-lives like radiation. By analyzing them, we can get an idea of how much poison is in the water."
"You mean shrimp and crabs are all full of. . ."
"Lobsters, too. Everything filthy in the ocean. And it stays in them."
"Should you eat them?" I asked.
"You do what you want. Me, if you notice, I have on rubber gloves. . .just to touch them."
I'm passing this on as a Public Service Announcement. Make up your own mind about munching on these critters. We do. Sandy and I celebrated our 39th Wedding Anniversary last week by going to a favorite, The Red Lobster. She had lobster and shrimp.
Being the usual food wussy, I had a nice New York Strip.
I asked Harry one day what the contraption was that was mounted outside the shop wall, next to the railing. It was an olive drab metal box, securely locked, with a pipe extending down into the Gulf. It had a warning to not disturb, property of the US Government.
"Belongs to the Department of Agriculture, somebody like that," Harry said.
I raised my eyebrows, waiting.
"Don't know what it's for. They come by every so often and fiddle around over there with it. I never paid much attention. Countin' crabs or some such."
My interest aroused, I asked Harry to call me the next time the tenders showed up. In a couple of weeks they did. I hurried to the pier and found a man working with a crank that was in the opened box. Turning the crank raised a box out of the water and up the long pipe. The mysterious box was similar to a crab trap, but much more durably fabricated. After identifying myself I asked what he was doing.
"I'm taking the contaminate count," he said. "Trying to get a handle on how much DDT, fertilizer, mercury and other poisons have made in to the Gulf."
"How's that work?"
"We trap crustaceans in this box. Crabs, shrimp, lobsters, anything with a shell. Then we analyze them and see how many poisons are in their system. Crustaceans are one of the ocean's filters. Anything that goes into them, effectively, never comes out. Dies off in half-lives like radiation. By analyzing them, we can get an idea of how much poison is in the water."
"You mean shrimp and crabs are all full of. . ."
"Lobsters, too. Everything filthy in the ocean. And it stays in them."
"Should you eat them?" I asked.
"You do what you want. Me, if you notice, I have on rubber gloves. . .just to touch them."
I'm passing this on as a Public Service Announcement. Make up your own mind about munching on these critters. We do. Sandy and I celebrated our 39th Wedding Anniversary last week by going to a favorite, The Red Lobster. She had lobster and shrimp.
Being the usual food wussy, I had a nice New York Strip.
No comments:
Post a Comment