
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, April 26, 1990                   TAG: 9004260497
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEWPORT NEWS                                LENGTH: Short

BAY SCIENTISTS REFUSE TO TEST MUTANT OYSTERS

Concerns that "some kind of mutant Ninja oyster" could wipe out the native Chesapeake Bay bivalve prompted the Virginia Marine Resources Commission to say sayonara to a proposal to test the Japanese species' resistance to disease.

Biologists and administrators at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science proposed the test and had the support of state seafood industry leaders. Scientists for environmental groups opposed the plan.

Roger Mann, VIMS' top oyster biologist, told the commission Tuesday that the dangers of the experiment had been vastly exaggerated by its "scare mongering" foes. He said the possible proliferation was a risk worth taking in an effort to save the livelihood of thousands who depend on an oyster that can no longer survive in the polluted Chesapeake Bay.

But waterman Eugene Christman of Poquoson characterized the Japanese bivalve as "some kind of mutant Ninja oyster."

Scientists from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and the Environmental Defense Fund, said approval of the experiment - in effect giving up on the native oyster - would send the wrong signal about the potential for cleaning up the bay.

The diseases MSX and Dermo have invaded virtually all bay oyster beds in spurts that accelerated in the mid-1980s. Scientists have been unable to cure the diseases or develop a genetic variation of the native oyster that will resist them.

by CNB