Why is management of VA wild oyster harvest working well?

[SteveL]

This media piece raises questions about the difference between MD and VA wild oyster harvest management. Also note the surge in VA aquaculture oysters.

http://www.dailypress.com/news/scien...tory?track=rss

Virginia's oyster harvest surges in 2011

By Cory Nealon

9:32 a.m. EST, February 8, 2012

Last year was the Virginia oyster industry’s best since 1989, a sign that sweeping regulations are helping restore the Chesapeake Bay’s signature bivalve, state officials said Tuesday.

Watermen harvested 236,000 bushels during the 2011 season, according to the Virginia Marine Resources Commission. That’s more than 10 times the amount in 2001 and the highest number sinceGeorge H.W. Bush occupied the Oval Office.

State officials attributed the boost to regulations enacted last decade, including rotating harvest areas, planting oyster shells and creating oyster sanctuaries.

“I applaud the actions of previous gubernatorial administrations which have helped Virginia oysters to make such a vigorous comeback,” Gov. Bob McDonnell said in a statement.

McDonnell eliminated oyster restoration funding his first two years in office has proposed spending $1 million the next two years. The funding is under consideration by the General Assembly.

The 2011 dockside value of Virginia’s oysters was $8.26 million. Given ancillary expenses such as gasoline, tackle and other supplies, the industry contributed roughly $22 million in economic activity in Virginia, according to the Virginia Institute of Marine Science.

While an improvement, the harvest still lags behind the salad days of the 1960s, when Virginia watermen routinely snagged more than a million bushels annually. The population nearly collapsed in the 1990s after decades of overfishing, habitat loss and the onset of two deadly diseases, Dermo and MSX.....

Copyright © 2012, Newport News, Va., Daily Press
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The article continues and can be viewed at the website above

see also: http://www.dailypress.com/news/newpo...,7737985.story

[SteveL]

http://articles.dailypress.com/2011-...venile-oysters

The Chesapeake Bay's new oyster war?

Virginia worries Maryland will take too many oyster seeds

November 03, 2011|By Cory Nealon, cnealon@dailypress.com | 757-247-4760

While not as pugnacious as William Cameron, Virginia regulators are following in the footsteps of the state's 39th governor.

Cameron, who personally led expeditions in the 1880s to stop Marylanders from illegally taking oysters in Virginia waters, is a central figure in the sometimes violent clashes known as the Chesapeake Bay oyster wars.

A new feud may be brewing, only this time it involves legal action instead of gunfire.

Worried that Marylanders will buy up precious James River oyster seeds — juvenile oysters referred to as spat — Virginia regulators have taken the unusual step of capping the amount that watermen are allowed to sell.

The move, unanimously approved last month by the Virginia Marine Resources Commission, required an emergency amendment to a state law. It limits watermen to 40,000 bushels until Dec. 31 and 80,000 more in the new year.

Watermen seldom approach those harvest levels, said James Wesson, the commission's director of oyster restoration. But demand could grow, he said, because Maryland is investing in oyster aquaculture.

Noting the bay's oysters have been devastated by disease, pollution and overfishing, Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley last year created a $2.2 million low-interest loan program to entice people into oyster farming.

There are few oyster hatcheries — places where baby oysters are grown and sold — in Maryland, said Karl Roscher, aquaculture director for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. As a result, attention turned to the James, the only area of the bay with plentiful seeds, he said.

"There is a little bit of a demand," Roscher said.......
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The article continues and can be viewed at the website posted above.

[Patapsco Mike]

Despite converting 24% of our productive bottom to sanctuaries, MD's harvest has quadrupled since 2004 even without any aquaculture production added to the number (VA's numbers include their increased aquaculture production). This suggests to me that management may have less to do with the increase than decent spat sets and the low disease related mortality both states have experienced over the last 8 years.

[SteveL]

Despite converting 24% of our productive bottom to sanctuaries, MD's harvest has quadrupled since 2004 even without any aquaculture production added to the number (VA's numbers include their increased aquaculture production). This suggests to me that management may have less to do with the increase than decent spat sets and the low disease related mortality both states have experienced over the last 8 years.

Mike,

Thanks very much for providing the response and participating in this discussion. Your point about high recruitment leading to increased landings is a very good one and it helps me understand oyster biology and management.

I guess I have to question whether there is any scientific information on what portion of the increased harvest (the delta between landings 8 years ago and the year you are referencing) came from oysters that were illegally harvested out of the sanctuaries.

Are the "sanctuaries" providing a substantial portion of the oysters that contributed to the increased MD landings?

I ask this in light of the recent high profile public notifications of multiple vessels being observed by MD NRP dredging in sanctuaries (13 vessels observed on two occasions).

[Patapsco Mike]

You can't have scientific information on activities done illegally. It's impossible. But I think it's extremely unlikely that oysters stolen from a sanctuary are a significant portion of the harvest. When we reduced the fishable areas by 24%, harvest decreased by 28%. That suggests to me that it wasn't just business as usual fishing in the sanctuaries. Our own surveys show that oysters are doing a lot better than they were a decade ago in the fishing areas. It stands to reason that this will result in an increased harvest.

From what I've heard and seen the license suspensions, license revocations, higher fines, MLEIN system, aggregated court days, and watermen routinely reporting illegal behavior seem to be making a serious dent in poaching.