THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, July 27, 1995 TAG: 9507270370
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JAMES SCHULTZ, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines
What began as one of the most promising oyster harvest seasons on record may end up as one of the most dismal. A huge plume of fresh water, runoff from late June's record rains in the Virginia mountains, has blossomed into a death tide for oysters in the upper and middle tidal reaches of the James River.
A limited survey Wednesday by the Virginia Marine Resources Commission indicates that 75 percent of bivalves on at least one of the James' public beds may have perished. Death rates drop to between 30 and 20 percent farther down river, where the plume mixes with more brackish waters.
``These are preliminary studies. We won't know the real impact until the fall,'' said Jim Wesson, the commission's chief of conservation and replenishment. ``At this point, it does not look very good. It's bad it came right at the peak of the spawn.''
While freshwater plumes can be annual events, most come during colder seasons.
Then, to survive, oysters close their shells and enter a sort of hibernation until salt levels have increased. In the summer, as oyster metabolism quickens, it becomes impossible to slow basic physical processes. Summer is also when oysters reproduce in large numbers.
John M. DeMaria Jr., owner of DeMaria's Seafood in Newport News, said that on July 1 he saw salt levels around the beds he plants begin to nose dive.
``The oysters held their breaths for six days, trying to survive,'' DeMaria said. ``They just couldn't make it. Their metabolism was just too high.''
Of the 1,115 acres that he seeded with 80,000 bushels of bivalves since 1992, DeMaria says that he has lost every single oyster. That translates to roughly a half a million dollar investment.
``We were shipping all over the country. People loved our product,'' he said. ``It's just come to a complete stop. It was here one day, and gone the next.''
Last year, Virginia produced about 35,535 bushels of market oysters, up slightly from the same period a year before. Although decimated by MSX and Dermo, two poorly understood parasitic diseases that kill oysters but cause no harm to humans, the bivalves appeared to be rebounding earlier this year.
Now, the talk among watermen, buyers and resource managers is of attempting to gauge the damage to a marine crop once again teetering on the edge.
``Is this Armageddon? The answer is clearly no,'' said Roger Mann, professor of marine science at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science. ``I wouldn't be surprised to see the survivors spawn again. These animals could spawn all the way out to September.''
Wesson, of the marine resources commission, agrees and cautions that environmental conditions could improve substantially by autumn.
``Don't jump to conclusions,'' he warned. ``It's not the end of the world for oysters. Oysters won't become extinct. They can rebound between now and September.''
Still, should the more detailed fall census reveal severe population loss, the marine resources commission could enact even more stringent harvesting restrictions than the current ones. Fishermen struggling to hold on to a rapidly vanishing livelihood could be among the first victims.
``What concerns me is a complete oyster moratorium,'' said DeMaria. ``That would be a disaster for a lot of people. That would really be bad.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color staff graphic by Robert D. Voros
Oyster Harvest Decline
Virginia market oyster landing in thousands of bushels
Source: Virginia Marine Resources Commission.
For copy of graphic, see microfilm
KEYWORDS: OYSTERS by CNB