ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, October 1, 1996 TAG: 9610010079
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-5 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: Associated Press
The Virginia Department of Health reopened the James River to shellfishing Monday, one day before the opening of oyster season.
The health department banned shellfishing from Hog Island downstream to the James River Bridge on Sept. 10 after floodwaters from Tropical Storm Fran washed pollution into the river. Health officials were particularly concerned about bacteria and viruses from fields, feedlots and flooded sewage treatment plants.
Now tests show the river is clean enough to allow shellfishing again, the department said Monday.
The ban had included a five-mile stretch of the James that contains some of the last productive oyster grounds in the state. A seven-month oyster season opens in the James River today. Tangier and Pocomoke sounds and the ocean side of the Eastern Shore are the only other places in Virginia where watermen can take oysters this season.
Meanwhile, a 20-mile stretch of the Rappahannock River remains closed to shellfishing because of pollution from Tropical Storm Fran. The ban was enacted Sept.12 and extends from the Tappahannock Bridge downstream to Stove Point.
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