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Officials may recommend a moratorium on taking oysters from the Potomac River, where they have nearly vanished.
Mike Croxton Jr. and his son, Mike Croxton III, dredge oysters from the Rappahannock. A possible moratorium on harvesting from the Potomac would be the second in recent history--oystering was prohibited after tropical storm Agnes in 1972. |
BY FRANK DELANO
Once the sustenance of a region, oysters have virtually vanished from the Potomac River.
Now regulators will soon consider a ban on harvesting the few oysters that remain on the river's bottom.
Kirby A. Carpenter, executive secretary of the bistate Potomac River Fisheries Commission, told a meeting of oystermen Thursday night in Colonial Beach that he will recommend a moratorium on taking oysters from the river when the commissioners meet next month.
His recommendation
"The environmental impact statement said we've got to work with the native oyster," said Carpenter. "To do that, we've got to develop disease-resistant native oysters.
"Every oyster you remove from the river is one that has survived and may hold a gene that is resistant to the disease. We've got to leave as many native oysters in the river as possible to develop that resistance.
"We believe every live oyster is more valuable left where it is than on a shucking table," he said.
The proposed moratorium would be the second in recent history. The river was closed to oystering for two seasons after the floods of tropical storm Agnes in 1972 killed an estimated 70 percent of the river's oysters.
Oyster populations recovered slightly after Agnes before being attacked by the diseases Dermo and MSX in the early 1990s.
"Since then, it has been all downhill. It's a very sad picture," said Carpenter.
But members of the commission's Oyster-Clam Advisory Committee unanimously rejected the idea of an oyster moratorium.
"Why are you so concerned with leaving them out there? Why not let somebody put them in their pocket?" asked James Ficklin of Montross.
No moratorium is needed because the river "has pretty much closed itself," said Robert T. Brown of the St. Mary's County, Md., Watermen's Association.
Recent numbers agree with Brown.
Only 525 bushels of oysters were taken from the river this year by 30 licensed oystermen from Maryland and Virginia. In years past, hundreds of oystermen caught hundreds of thousands of bushels.
This year's total catch sold for just $15,877.50 at the dock. Years ago, the catch was worth millions to the watermen, oyster packers, shuckers and the economies of the rural regions on both sides of the river.
On average last year, oystermen in the Potomac made a little more than $500 each for their hard work.
"Out of that came his license fees, fuel and wear and tear on his boat. The average oysterman last year lost money," said Carpenter.
With their traditional livelihoods at stake, the members of the oyster committee also opposed other recommendations to reduce their catch. They voted in favor of measures that might increase it.
Huge problems, some natural but most manmade, must be solved before oysters return to the river.
The river's water quality has suffered from tremendous population growth on its banks. Pollution from farms and lawns causes algae blooms that deplete oxygen in the water. The drastic decline of oysters, which filter vast amounts of water, also contributes to the problem.
The Potomac is also different from some other Chesapeake tributaries, said Jim Wesson, a fisheries management expert with the Virginia Marine Resources Commission.
Wesson said oysters in the Potomac reproduce only every 12 or 13 years. Reproduction in other bay tributaries occurs more frequently.
In some tributaries, oyster larvae are trapped. But in the Potomac, much oyster spat, as the larvae are called, is flushed out of the river before it has a chance to attach to oyster shells on the bottom.
Private oyster growers have been successful in raising hybrid native oysters that reach marketable size before the diseases kill them.
But Carpenter said such aquacultural methods are presently off limits in the Potomac because of a 1958 agreement between Maryland and Virginia. The compact prohibits the Potomac commission from leasing the oyster bottom that aquaculture requires.
The Virginia General Assembly voted three years ago to allow leasing, but the Maryland legislature has yet to approve it, Carpenter said.
"Rebuilding a public fishery in the Potomac with only native oysters is going to be a monumental task," Carpenter said. "There is no silver bullet."
Frank Delano: 804/761-4300
Email: fpdelano@gmail.com
