THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, March 17, 1995 TAG: 9503170569
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY SCOTT HARPER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 124 lines
The poor oyster. Ravaged by disease, pollution and overfishing, this tiny but tasty symbol of the Chesapeake Bay has dwindled to near extinction over the past decade, especially in Virginia.
Stocks reached such lows that, for the first time in history, the state outlawed oyster harvesting this year in the open waters of the Bay.
But spurred by warm weather, the 1994-95 season has still - unexpectedly - become one of the most encouraging in years.
While some watermen are talking about a pending recovery of the oyster industry, scientists are not nearly as optimistic, and are even warning of serious problems this summer.
Few disagree, however, that the James River has come alive. So many baby oysters have been found and plucked this winter from the James that state officials Thursday closed the river to such harvesting - six weeks before the season was supposed to end on April 30.
Watermen and seafood buyers are protesting. They argue that the state is being too conservative and is keeping them from making good money from a shellfish that is paying off after so many dormant years.
``There's more seed oysters out there than I've seen in 20 years,'' said William ``Sonny'' Gay, a longtime James River waterman, noting that a bushel of seed oysters fetches about $2. ``They're everywhere, and now they're telling us to stop.''
Baby oysters are better known as seed oysters because they are planted in other waterways, where they grow to maturity. In Virginia, they usually are transported to private oyster beds on the Eastern Shore and along the Potomac River.
To Jim Wesson, director of oyster conservation and replenishment at the Virginia Marine Resources Commission, the issue is simple.
When the season opened Oct. 1, VMRC set a quota of 80,000 bushels of seed oysters for the James, the only waterway open to public harvesting in Virginia. On Thursday, the quota was met.
``Sure I'm encouraged by the amount of seed we're seeing,'' Wesson said, ``but let's not blow it. We're trying to maintain some productivity for the future. That's what the quota's for.'' The harvest of market-size oysters - those at least 3 inches long - also is rebounding, although not to the extent of seed oysters, officials and seafood buyers say. VMRC, which last year set a quota for market-size oysters, removed it this year. Instead, the agency closed the harvest in the Bay and tributaries - except the James.
Last year, Virginia produced about 35,535 bushels of market oysters, most of which are grown on private beds. Only 7,400 bushels derived from public grounds, such as those in the James River. Only 360 bushels came from the Bay, according to state statistics.
Wesson said Virginia should easily beat those numbers this season.
The last time Virginia experienced a harvest increase was in 1987, when the yearly catch climbed from 715,000 bushels to 780,000 bushels.
The following year is when MSX and Dermo, two feisty parasites that kill oysters but cause no harm to humans, struck the Bay and began the stranglehold that only now appears to be easing.
In Maryland this year, officials also report an oyster upswing.
According to the Maryland Watermen's Association, the state produced 117,000 bushels by Jan. 31 of this season. Watermen caught only 79,000 bushels during last year's season.
The big reason for the population rebound appears to be weather, according to officials and scientists.
A warm, fairly wet winter this year allowed babies to grow strong in the James, said Gene Burreson, a professor of marine science at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, a branch of the College of William and Mary.
Burreson, who has tracked MSX and Dermo for years, explained that the warm weather may cause a backlash this summer in Virginia.
Dermo, he said, thrives in warm water and does not like the cold. That could explain the good year in Maryland, because the Bay last year experienced a hard freeze that may have kept Dermo away from sensitive oyster bars from the Chesapeake Bay Bridge near Annapolis to Tangier Island.
In the James, however, Burreson predicted a big spurt of Dermo this summer, since the parasite was not kept in check by cold winter weather. The best hope, he said, is a wet spring that - before Dermo can take hold - would flush it from the James.
MSX and Dermo bask in salty water, too, he said. Rain lowers salinity and thus lessens the chance of big problems with the two diseases.
During heavy disease years, beginning in 1987, entrepreneurs were scared away from buying seed oysters from the James River. They feared that parasites would kill the babies before they could grow to market size - a process that takes between 18 months and two years.
This concern, in turn, curbed watermen from harvesting seed oysters from the river, giving stocks ``breathing room'' to grow and expand, scientists explained.
As MSX and Dermo have loosened their grip, the market for a rejuvenated stock of seed oysters has returned with a gusto.
Ronnie Bevans, president of Bevans Oyster Co. in Kinsale, bought about 40,000 bushels from the James for planting in private beds off the Potomac River.
``It seems like the oysters are coming back,'' Bevans said. ``But that may be due to the fact that they haven't been harvested as much.'' ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
OYSTER HARVEST
KEN WRIGHT/Staff
SOURCE: Virginia Marine Resources Commission Oyster Harvests
[For a copy of the graphic, see microfilm for this date.]
IS THE JAMES RIVER RECOVERING?
The James River seemingly has come alive. So many oysters have been
harvested that state officials have closed the river early. A warm,
fairly wet winter has made the 1994-95 season one of the most
encouraging in years.
WATERMEN AND SEAFOOD BUYERS SAY
The oyster industry will recover. The state is being conservative,
preventing profit from a shellfish that is finally paying off.
SCIENTISTS SAY
Warm weather and conservation measures allowed baby oysters to grow,
but higher temperatures could cause a backlash. The parasite Dermo,
which also thrives in warm water, could kill oysters.
A GOOD HARVEST
PAUL AIKEN
Staff
[Color Photo]
Tony Ferguson, on the Miss Mary, unloads seed oysters from the James
River for replanting.
by CNB