"After a generation of effort, New England's waters are clean enough to support an oyster industry. But climate change could undermine those gains."

"CHARLESTOWN, R.I. – Rain and sleet smack the surface of Ninigret Pond as oyster farmer Jules Opton-Himmel fumbles with a stalled outboard motor. Not much is going his way this morning.

He's under pressure to harvest on this mid-February day to make an on-time afternoon delivery to a local raw bar. On-board, he's trying to impress a top chef from one of Newport's most exclusive restaurants – and his pontoon boat is stuck in a field of slushy ice not even halfway out into the lagoon where he grows oysters.

'Everything going wrong – I'd say that's a pretty typical day,' Opton-Himmel jokes, just moments before part of the outboard engine broke off, sinking into the icy water."

Lindsey Konkel reports for the Daily Climate April 17, 2013. [2]