Combat Red Tides and Leave the Shellfish Alone

Eating shellfish has always been a bad idea. Clams and other shellfish feed on ocean crud thereby cleaning the water. If the ocean was a fish tank, then the shellfish would be the filters keeping the water safe from contaminants. Without the filter the tank grows too much bacteria. Filter feeders are essential because they filter, and when we diminish their numbers, the result is red tides when the clams can't keep up with polluting biological demand.