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In terms of oysters, the first half of the 20th century drew different pictures in different parts of the world. It saw enormous industrial growth in many countries. The horrors of two world wars came to pass. In between, the Great Depression brought unimaginable poverty to many. In the 19th century, the oysters had taught mankind "oyster lesson #1": Oyster harvesting without oyster cultivation leads to no oysters being left to harvest. Although this lesson seems almost absurd in its self-evident simplicity, almost all the oystermen in all the countries of the world had to learn this lesson the hard way. Amazingly enough, some did not learn anything and, in the first half of the 20. century, went right on over-harvesting what was left of the natural oysterbeds. In 1913, the Canadian naturalist Jos. Stafford reflected on the past and took inventory of mankind's folley. In his exquisite book titled "The Canadian Oyster" he writes on page 103: "The oyster, in its simple, undesigned, mechanical mode of life, hampered by all its specializations and loss of sensory and locomotory organs, cannot evade or defend itself against the persistance and contrivances of man. If the oyster could reason it would regard man as its greatest enemy, for he not only calculatingly takes every specimen he finds but in various ways destroys others that he cannot see and almost maliciously interferes with the habitats of all stages of the developing young." With the dawn of the 20th century, it was
time for another simple lesson, "oyster lesson #2":
Both oysters and cities grow particularly well where rivers
meet the sea (so called estuaries). As cities grow, so does their
industrial and human waste. Initially, oysters are often not
easily offended by the pollution of their waters. They doggedly
go on filtering the water around them, right along with filtering
all the bacteria, viruses and metals added by the city folks.
They grow into big, juicy and tasty oysters. The people in the
city then eat them and get very sick or die. Ultimately, the
oysters die as well.
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