THE Grapevine

RESEARCH FINDS POISONS PRESENT IN WILD OYSTERS A study of oysters in the Richmond River estuary in the NSW Northern Rivers has detected 21 pesticides including herbicides, fungicides and insecticides. Each oyster had on average detectable levels of nine different pesticides, among them diuron, atrazine, hexazinone and metolachlor as well as one banned fungicide, benomyl. The researchers from Southern Cross University are calling on regulators to step up monitoring of pesticides in seafood from estuaries to enable hotspots and poor management practices to be identified and remedied. More pesticide residues were found in oysters than in water samples since oysters are filter feeders and accumulate particles and pollutants found in the water. A single oyster can filter up to 5L of water an hour and a whopping 250,000L throughout its lifetime. Before colonisation, oyster reefs were…