Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, April 24, 1990 TAG: 9004240454
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B3 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The Virginia Marine Resources Commission is expected to decide today whether to allow 800 neutered Japanese oysters into the bay off Gloucester Point, according to Eric Barth, deputy director of fisheries.
Researchers from the Virginia Institute of Marine Science want to see if the oysters are immune to multinucleate sphere X, one of two diseases ravaging the bay oysters. Over the past 30 years, MSX and dermo, the other disease, have infected 99 percent of the bay's public oyster beds.
Both diseases are fatal to the shellfish, but do not affect humans.
Laboratory tests already have shown the Japanese oyster resistant to Dermo; scientists have been unable to duplicate MSX in the laboratory.
The problem, though, is that Japanese oysters breed rapidly and unless properly harvested can become a pest, fouling the bottom and pushing out the already weakened native oyster.
"The worst-case scenario is that these animals will spawn, spread up and down the bay and displace the native oyster," said Roger Mann, the marine science institute researcher requesting the experiment.
Some watermen are willing to take that calculated risk.
"If the oyster industry is going to survive in this state, we're going to have to do something different. And what have got to lose?" Skipper Garrett, an oyster planter, told the commission at an earlier hearing.
Others are not quite as willing.
"A number of watermen are either opposed to the introduction of the Japanese oyster or have serious reservations," said James Wesson, president of the Working Watermen's Association. Some are afraid the new oyster will disrupt their way of life, he said.
"A lot of the fellows are afraid that the industry won't need watermen with the Japanese oyster," Wesson said. The oyster could be seeded and grown in areas owned by seafood processing companies, he said.
"I don't think the Japanese oyster is going to replace our bay oyster, though. I think there is potential for both to be complimentary. The bay oyster has a better taste and is nicer on the half shell," Wesson said.
With the steadily declining oyster harvest, most agree that something needs to be done.
"Maybe we'll have to bite the bullet and close the season. But I don't think you can because of the number of people you would put out of work. And if you close for say five years, would the market ever come back? You would have lost your share of the market and all of your shuckers and watermen," Wesson said.
by CNB