Virginia and feds clash over oyster restoration

Virginia and feds clash over oyster restoration



State and federal officials are at loggerheads over how to restore oysters in the Chesapeake Bay.
In one corner is the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which favors building large-scale oyster reefs that are off-limits to the commercial fishing industry.

In the other is the Virginia Marine Resources Commission, whose scientists prefer smaller reefs that are partly accessible to commercial harvesting.
Also in the mix is the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, which has high-profile professors backing each agency.
In the balance is $2 million that could be used to help revive the beleaguered bivalve, which accounted for $3.8 million in dockside sales in 2009.
The corps, with the backing of VIMS professor Rom Lipcius, wants to continue building a large sanctuary in the Great Wicomico River.

At roughly 85 acres, it is among the largest man-made oyster reefs in the world. It differs from other reefs because the oysters are stacked 10 to 18 inches off the river bottom, said Lipcius, who routinely appears before state officials to discuss another bay delicacy, the blue crab.

Lipcius says the height and size of the reef allows oysters to overcome diseases, predators and pollution — which, along with overharvesting, have combined to decimate the population during the past 50 years.

The commission, which works with VIMS professor Roger Mann, says the reef isn't as successful as the corps and Lipcius contend. Oysters there are dying due to the diseases MSX and Dermo, said Jim Wesson, a VMRC oyster restoration specialist.
Restoration efforts would be better served, Wesson has said, by planting shells and seed on grounds that are open to watermen. That way the oysters have a chance to be harvested before they die.

Why don't both sides agree to disagree and part ways?
They can't. The corps has $2 million to work with. But to access the money, it must receive a 15 percent match — usually in the form of shells — from the commission.
The commission is bound to the corps because its oyster restoration funding was cut from the state budget last year.
The corps "obviously have much deeper pockets than the state does," Jack Travelstead, the commission's fisheries management chief, told commission members on Tuesday in Newport News.

The two sides met at the Reedville home of associate commissioner J. Carter Fox earlier this year but did not reach an agreement.
Lipcius said he and Mann, who speaks on everything from oysters to global warming, will try to iron out their differences.

Travelstead said he is hopeful the corps will consider directing money toward reefs open to watermen.
If the two sides don't find common ground soon, this year's restoration effort could be shelved. The ideal time to plant shells and oyster seed is from May to September, Lipcius said.