and now for something completely different....

[wesw]

do you eat any old bay with your lobster?


old bay butter?

[Guinevere]

Hyannis being the other side of the Cape from where I am. . . .

[wesw]

yeah.....

head down the cape, hon!

sorry, I slipped into bal'morese......

with global warming and all, and those canals thru the cape...., you might have crabs up your way soon.......

[Guinevere]

No need to fight that traffic when I have all the Cape has to offer right out my front (or back) door.

And no, I like my lobster with plain butter or a little lemon.

[wesw]

almost all...., the cape has bluecrabs!!!!!

although.... I think that one could make a perfecty good crabcake with lobster meat, probably the claw meat would work well.

[RayThom]

Crab claw "bite" wound infection. Think MRSA.

[wesw]

you have more chance of getting mrsa at your doctor s office....

...and the hospital....?

terrible......

the water was fairly salty this week so I should be ok...

[BoSoxGal]

What is Vibrio vulnificus?

Vibrio vulnificus is a bacterium that normally lives in warm seawater and is part of a group of vibrios that are called "halophilic" because they require salt.

How do persons get infected with Vibrio vulnificus?

People can get infected with Vibrio vulnificus when they eat raw shellfish, particularly oysters. Occurring naturally in the warm coastal waters, particularly during the summer months, Vibrio vulnificus has the potential to cause serious illness. Persons who have wounds, cuts or scratches and wade in estuarine areas or seawater where the bacteria might be present can become ill. There is no evidence of person-to-person transmission of Vibrio vulnificus.

What type of illness does Vibrio vulnificus cause?

Symptoms of Vibrio vulnificus in wound infections typically include swelling, pain and redness at the wound site. Other symptoms of Vibrio vulnificus infection include; nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhea, fever, chills and the formation of blistering skin lesions. Individuals experiencing these symptoms should contact a physician immediately for diagnosis and treatment.

Individuals with liver disease, including Hepatitis C and cirrhosis, are most at risk for developing serious illness from Vibrio vulnificus obtained from eating raw oysters. Others who should avoid consuming raw shellfish are those with hemochromatosis (iron overload), diabetes, cancer, stomach disorders or any illness or treatment that weakens the immune system. Thoroughly cooking oysters, either by frying, stewing, or roasting eliminates harmful bacteria and viruses in the meat. Consuming raw oysters that have undergone a post-harvest treatment process to eliminate the bacteria can also reduce the risk of illness.

How common is Vibrio vulnificus infection?

Vibrio vulnificus is a rare cause of disease, but it is also underreported. Between 1988 and 2006, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) received reports of more than 900 Vibrio vulnificus infections from the Gulf Coast states, where most cases occur. Before 2007, there was no national surveillance system for Vibrio vulnificus, but CDC collaborated with Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Texas and Mississippi to monitor the number of cases in the Gulf Coast region. In 2007, infections caused by Vibrio vulnificus and other vibrio species became nationally notifiable.

A total of 45 cases of Vibrio vulnificus were reported during 2015 resulting in 14 deaths. For the latest information, please go to the Florida Department of Health’s online newsroom information page at http://www.floridahealth.gov/diseases-a ... ulnificus/.

What are some tips for preventing Vibrio vulnificus infections?

Do not eat raw oysters or other raw shellfish.
Cook shellfish (oysters, clams, mussels) thoroughly.
For shellfish in the shell, either a) boil until the shells open and continue boiling for 5 more minutes or b) steam until the shells open and then continue cooking for 9 more minutes. Do not eat those shellfish that do not open during cooking. Boil shucked oysters at least 3 minutes or fry them in oil at least 10 minutes at 375°F.
Avoid cross-contamination of cooked seafood and other foods with raw seafood and juices from raw seafood.
Eat shellfish promptly after cooking and refrigerate leftovers.
Avoid exposure of open wounds or broken skin to warm salt or brackish water, or to raw shellfish harvested from such waters.
Wear protective clothing (e.g., gloves) when handling raw shellfish.
For more information on care and treatment specifics, please visit the CDC’s website.

For general food safety questions, call the FDA Food Safety Hotline at 1-888-723-3366.

If the situation is critical, phone the FDA's emergency number at 301-796-8240 or 1-866-300-4374, which is staffed 24 hours a day. More on food safety can be found at http://www.foodsafety.gov.

The sources for the information in this document are the Florida Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. To learn more, visit their websites at http://www.floridahealth.gov/diseases-a ... ulnificus/ and http://www.cdc.gov/vibrio/vibriov.html or call your local county health department.

Symptoms of Vibrio vulnificus in wound infections typically include swelling, pain and redness at the wound site. Other symptoms of Vibrio vulnificus infection include; nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhea, fever, chills and the formation of blistering skin lesions. Individuals experiencing these symptoms should contact a physician immediately for diagnosis and treatment.

Individuals with liver disease, including Hepatitis C and cirrhosis, are most at risk for developing serious illness from Vibrio vulnificus obtained from eating raw oysters. Others who should avoid consuming raw shellfish are those with hemochromatosis (iron overload), diabetes, cancer, stomach disorders or any illness or treatment that weakens the immune system. Thoroughly cooking oysters, either by frying, stewing, or roasting eliminates harmful bacteria and viruses in the meat. Consuming raw oysters that have undergone a post-harvest treatment process to eliminate the bacteria can also reduce the risk of illness.

[BoSoxGal]

No need to fight that traffic when I have all the Cape has to offer right out my front (or back) door.

And no, I like my lobster with plain butter or a little lemon.

With respect, Hull is very nice, but it’s no Cape Cod and doesn’t have all that the Cape has to offer (pine barrens, sand dunes, cranberry bogs, freshwater ponds, miles of quaint historic villages, the islands, etc.) by any stretch of the imagination.

[Jarlaxle]

You left out traffic, tourists, traffic, drunk tourists, traffic, and hellacious traffic.

[BoSoxGal]

Those are things you can experience equally in both places; Nantasket Beach is the destination for lots of folks who can’t make it to the Cape, and is one of the busiest in the Boston area. We went often when I was a kid/teenager and it was always overrun with drunk locals - maybe not so many tourists. It has its charms, but I always preferred the Cape by far. I spent a couple of decades of summers down there and know a lot of tricks for avoiding the masses, plus I tend to enjoy it much more anyway in fall, winter and spring when the majority of brat-attached tourists aren’t around.

[Jarlaxle]

The Cape has two unavoidable choke points: the bridges. There are only two roads over the Canal.

[BoSoxGal]

This is true - but I’ve never been stuck in traffic longer than 20 minutes getting over the bridge, and generally far less time. I find it usually best to skip the Bourne, take the scenic byway along the canal and cruise over the Sagamore. Even the week of the 4th the traffic wasn’t that bad; maybe lots of folks are taking the train these days and it’s cutting down on the logjam.

Anyway, I’ve sat in traffic longer getting to and from work in the greater Boston area - the frustration of a little bit of traffic is nothing balanced out by the loveliness of the Cape. With any luck, the return of the sharks will lighten the tourist load a bit in the coming summers, anyway.

[wesw]

giant Bluefin run thru the canal.....

I hooked one at the end of the jetty while fishing for rockfish (striped bass to you Yankees)

amazing...., I threw out a herring fillet , with no weight, and just let it drift down.....

....as soon as it got out of sight below the water, my rod was almost ripped from my hands, my arms were straight out, and my drag was singing a tune that I had never heard before.

I thought that I had hooked a whale, or a submarine.

my reel couldn t handle the speed and my line popped like a .22 shot.

I talked to some fishermen and figured that it must have been a tuna

[wesw]

it seems that I was right about bluecrabs extending their range.....

they have been observed as far north as nova scotia.....

guin was right about them not being found north of the cape, was being the operative word.

not now.

I m a keen observer of nature.

or maybe I have the kenning....

here is something from newbury ...






NEWBURY — It used to be that blue crabs were rarely found north of Cape Cod, but a new study indicates that the highly sought crab cake ingredient may be starting to migrate into the Plum Island estuary and even farther to the north.

Warming ocean temperatures are the culprit, according to the study’s author, Newbury-based biologist David Samuel Johnson.

The discovery has its roots in the summer of 2012, a year that is memorable for many who fish along the local coast. Water temperatures became noticeably warmer, and fish species that had never been seen this far north, such as bonino fish, were being caught. That summer, Johnson heard from a colleague who described seeing a crab in the marshes off Plum Island that fit the general description of a blue crab — a crab with distinctive sharp points on its shell and wing-like projections on its rear legs to help it swim.



Johnson, who specializes in the study of invertebrate animals, set out to confirm it the old-fashioned way: He waded out into a mucky creek in Ipswich and trudged along, watching for movement below.

“I saw a lot of green crabs scuttling along, and then I saw a crab swimming fast. As soon as I saw that my heart started racing,” he said. “It was the first time I had seen a blue crab in the Great Marsh.”

Johnson’s study was buoyed by a news story in an August 2012 edition of The Daily News that reported the capture of a large blue crab in the waters off Marblehead. It was discovered by the town’s shellfish constable, Ray Bates, while he was diving.

“I’ve been diving since 1960 and put in thousands of hours in the water, and I’ve never seen a blue crab ever,” Bates said of his discovery at the time. The crab was displayed at a local tackle shop, where it became the talk of the town. Longtime fishermen had never seen a blue crab so far north before.

That led Johnson to find other reports of blue crabs in the Gulf of Maine, the ocean waters that stretch from Massachusetts to Nova Scotia. He personally found four blue crabs in the Plum Island estuary section of the Great Marsh. His study was published last month in the Journal of Crustacean Biology.

Johnson’s study indicates that there is not yet enough data to definitively state that blue crabs are now permanently ensconced in this region. There have been rare instances of them being found in northern waters in the past. The first recorded instance was in 1867, when they were found in a salt pond in Salem sound. Twice — in 1902-3 and 1953 — they were found as far north as Nova Scotia. Most recently, one was found in the Sheepscot River in Maine, in 1977.

But those isolated incidents pale in comparison to what happened in 2012, a year that marked a milestone in local waters. Fishermen and marine biologists recorded a noticeable increase in ocean water temperatures, a warming trend that brought species here that had previously found local ocean waters to be too cold.

Johnson documented six different locations where blue crabs were found north of Cape Cod between 2012 and 2014. They are Duxbury Bay, Marblehead, Plum Island estuary, New Hampshire, New Meadows Lake, Maine, and Little Port Joli estuary, Nova Scotia.

Blue crabs vs. green crabs







Unlike two other non-native crab species that have invaded the local coast — green crabs and fiddler crabs — blue crabs have commercial value to fishermen. They are a famously popular shellfish in the mid-Atlantic states, the signature seafood dish of Baltimore, Md. Their price per pound is on par with lobster, ranging from $3 to $6.

Their northernmost range has long been Cape Cod, and so Massachusetts regulates the harvesting of blue crabs. A fisherman can harvest up to 25 per day, though their carapaces must be at least 5 inches across. The crabs that Johnson found in the tidal creeks of the Plum Island estuary were about two-thirds that size.

The presence of blue crabs in local waters

[Guinevere]

No date. No link. And the data is clearly not even close to definitive. A handful of outliers doesn’t always make a trend.

I spend a lot of time on the beaches here, and eating local seafood. The crabs that wash up are not blue crabs. There are no fishermen catching and selling blue crabs commercially either. It may be a different story on the Cape (although not by much), but this is not the Cape (thank god).

And believe me, by the way the locals make "crab cakes" around here, they don't deserve the blue crab

[wesw]

well, you are hard headed aren t you?

I was gonna link it...., but I figured that you d take my word for it.....

ton s of other stuff on the google too.....

apparently the southern cape and rhode island are lousy with blue crabs these days.....

people kinda looked down on them when I lived there..... lobster was king.

and even around here, in OC, you can get the worst crabcakes at the best restaurants....

great big huge thing that are cooked in some kind of cylinder apparently..., about two inches tall...

all lump backfin...., and very little flavor.

crab cakes should be small and crispy.

and they need a good percentage of claw meat to get the good crispiness and flavor

i m fine with all claw crabcakes too....

[Scooter]

I figured that you d take my word for it.....

Because you have such a well earned reputation here for factual accuracy.

[wesw]

here is a link...

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q= ... _L8FEWbesp

and another.....


http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q= ... AfthwtjeUb

there are plenty more I could post

[Scooter]

the highly sought crab cake ingredient MAY be starting to migrate into the Plum Island estuary and even farther to the north

Emphasis added.

I'm sure that Guin thanks you for making her point for her.