THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, March 15, 1996 TAG: 9603150450
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY SCOTT HARPER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 76 lines
Three Virginia Marine Patrol officers say they were told not to impose special precautions on watermen harvesting small ``seed'' oysters from contaminated waters in the James River.
Much of the James has been closed to shellfish harvesting since Jan. 30 due to high levels of bacteria. But watermen still can catch immature oysters, or seed, and replant them elsewhere until they grow to marketable size.
Two of the three officers, speaking anonymously Thursday for fear of retribution, said they were told at a Feb. 28 staff meeting not to follow procedures that aim to segregate and clearly mark seed oysters pulled from polluted waters.
``Those safeguards are in place to make sure none of these polluted oysters get to market and make someone sick,'' said one officer. ``But for some reason they just decided to do away with that. Now you tell me if that's right.''
The deputy chief of the state Marine Patrol, Lt. Col. Steve Bowman, responded Thursday that the officers either misunderstood the directive or are unclear about state oyster regulations.
``There's no way in the world they'd be asked to turn their back on an unhealthy situation,'' Bowman said. ``I'm not sure what their motivation is for trying to make a big deal of this.''
A meeting of patrol officers has been called for today, ``to clarify the rules'' on removing shellfish from polluted waterways, Bowman said.
The officers said they suspect another purpose will be to try to determine who talked to the media and to ensure no more leaks occur.
In regulating seed oysters removed from contaminated waters, Marine Patrol officers are supposed to seal any truck carrying the oysters to their destination and then unseal the vehicle when it arrives, officials said. Most seed in Virginia is found in the James River and is transplanted to the York, Rappahannock and Potomac rivers, officials and merchants said.
Yellow flags are supposed to be placed around areas where the tainted seed is replanted. The flags are removed after at least 15 days - the time the state Health Department says it takes to purge contaminants.
Seed oysters usually require between one and three years to grow to the legal minimum market size of 3 inches, experts said.
Bowman said there has only been one boat moving seed from the closed waters, and that the crew is transplanting the seed to private oyster beds in the James.
Safeguards are important when the seed is moving by truck to another river, Bowman said. ``But this seed has no chance of getting on the back of some truck and somehow getting to market,'' he said. ``It's on a boat the whole time.''
The officers countered that more than one boat has been working the James - including two on Thursday - and that the regulations clearly spell out what's required in contaminated waters.
The case was brought to public light through an organization known as Public Employees For Environmental Responsibility, or PEER, a Washington-based group. Its Virginia director, David Sligh, called for an investigation into the Feb. 28 meeting, which he labeled ``a betrayal of the public trust.''
On Feb. 27, the Virginia Marine Resources Commission, at the request of oystermen, determined that seed oysters could be caught in the closed areas on the James River.
The next day, at a Marine Patrol meeting, officers were briefed on the decision. Instead of being told to follow pollution procedures in regulating the harvest, officers were instructed to ``treat the seed as large seed,'' meaning no paperwork, no seals and no flagging were necessary, meeting attendants said.
When some pressed that such a policy might compromise public health standards, the meeting was quickly adjourned, the officers said. ILLUSTRATION: Map
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