THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, September 6, 1994 TAG: 9409060061
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: KILMARNOCK LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines
About 50 Northern Neck residents are tending oyster gardens in an effort to stimulate the local economy and help the Virginia Institute of Marine Science with its research.
Wendell Wallace of Lancaster County is among the residents who accepted free seed oysters from VIMS and, in exchange, will monitor the oysters' growth and provide the institute with records on their development.
``It will raise interest in the environmental problems we have, and I think you'll see the economy stimulated, too,'' Wallace said. ``What you've got is a research and development project that might become an economic situation.''
For about $70, Wallace bought a floating cage of PVC pipe and wire that he keeps tied to the end of his boat dock.
The wire protects the oysters from predators, such as raccoons and blue crabs. The hollow PVC frame keeps the oysters suspended just below the surface of the water to expose them to an abundant supply of plankton and algae to fuel rapid growth.
VIMS predicts the oysters will reach the 2-inch market size by Thanksgiving 1995, thus escaping the parasitic killers MSX and Dermo. The disease-causing parasites typically kill the slower growing bottom-dwelling oysters on the Chesapeake Bay's natural oyster beds before they reach harvest size.
MSX and Dermo spread across the Bay in the mid-1980s, devastating the estuary's thriving oyster industry.
The oyster-garden concept, also known as aquaculture, could be used to bolster the ailing industry and restore some winter income for watermen, VIMS says.
Wallace and many others participating in the project aren't interested in expanding into commercial production. But they think if they can successfully raise the shellfish, others will try it on a commercial scale.
For now, the project is a subtle form of environmental activism, as far as Wallace is concerned.
Those involved in the oyster project should become more aware of water-quality issues in the Bay and their local creeks, he said.
``They'll be motivated because they're raising oysters in that water,'' Wallace said.
Pollution and land development have taken a toll on the Bay, clouding its water with algae and sediments that kill important underwater grasses and suffocate sea life.
Because each oyster filters about 50 gallons of water a day, the restoration of the shellfish is seen as a vital link in the federal-state Chesapeake Bay cleanup, which has been under way since 1983.
Wallace received his 2,000 oysters early last month, when they were the size of a fingernail. Now, some measure 1 1/2 inches long and appear to be thriving.
VIMS supplied the Northern Neck group with 119,000 seed oysters. More of the baby shellfish are scheduled for delivery later this month.
The local Rappahannock Initiative Committee, an environmental group sponsored by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, is administering the project.
VIMS has been giving away the shellfish to oyster gardeners since 1986, and is doubling its production this year to about 4 million oysters despite budget cuts in its hatchery program.
About 40 people outside the Rappahannock group are raising oysters in floats, with VIMS help, according to Cathleen Greene, a specialist at the VIMS lab.
Most are hobby growers, but a few are trying to develop the practice into a commercial venture that will supply the lucrative half-shell market. by CNB