TERRA CEIA, Fla. — Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried sat down with shellfish famers, commercial fishermen, and restaurant owners on Wednesday to discuss the fallout from the wastewater breach at Piney Point and throw out possible solutions.

A team of aquaculture farmers pulled red tide data from the last 15 years from state records and compared it to the current bloom. Bi-valve farmer Curtis Hummel told the group that besides the 2018 bloom, this is the earliest red tide has cropped up in recent history. He attributed the 2018 issue to historic rainfall totals. 

“No, we should not have red tide right now, and if we did it should have been because there’s massive amounts of excess rainfall for the last two-three months,” he said. 

Fried agreed that based on the timeline, there is a link between the spill in early April and the issues that shellfish farmers are facing now. 

Hummel explained that he had a number of issues with oyster beds directly after the breach and believes the change in water nutrients is likely to blame.

“We had two spawns that went through perfectly and we got nearly 4 million oysters from that batch,” she said. “Then after the spill the next three to four spawns we saw almost complete mortality.” 

Ed Chiles, who owns a number of restaurants in Manatee County, says worried doesn’t even begin to describe his feelings on the current situation. 

“What keeps me up at night, not just since Piney Point but for awhile, is water issues. Red tides that we see coming more often and with more intensity,” he said. 

Chiles was one of many who supported the idea of using beds of clams to help naturally filter the water in affected areas. 

“We’ve got solutions that use the intrinsic resources that we have,” he said. “When you put that clam on the bottom and it lives 35 years and it has multiple spawns and its promoting seagrass, then it just grows and grows in a sustainable way that creates great jobs, well paying jobs, while it protects our marine environment.” 

Fried agreed that tapping into the aquaculture industry could be part of the answer. During the conversation, she threw out the idea of using part of the state’s $100 million allocation for cleaning up Piney Point to directly compensate affected shellfish farmers.