THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, October 12, 1996 TAG: 9610120327
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY SCOTT HARPER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 75 lines
Two state senators from Hampton Roads have joined a growing opposition to a decision by the Virginia Marine Resources Commission to re-open parts of the Chesapeake Bay to oystering this season.
The Virginia half of the Bay has been closed to public oystering since 1993 in an attempt to preserve what few adult oysters remain after a devastating one-two punch of disease and pollution.
State Sens. Ken W. Stolle, a Virginia Beach Republican, and Stanley C. Walker, a Norfolk Democrat, are asking the commission to reconsider its 5-4 vote last month to allow a limited oyster harvest in Pocomoke and Tangier sounds, two large inlets of the Bay near the Maryland border.
They join two other local legislators, state Dels. Leo C. Wardrup Jr. and Robert F. McDonnell, as well as other lawmakers around Virginia from both sides of the political aisle, who are applying pressure for a policy reversal.
In his letter to commission Chairman William Pruitt, who cast the tie-breaking vote last month, Stolle warned that if a reversal is not forthcoming, he might try to pass a law in the upcoming General Assembly to shut the two sounds.
``Every shred of information I've received . . . indicates that we should not be expanding our oyster harvests,'' Stolle said Friday, ``but should instead see if we can get some kind of improvement from those that are left.''
Pruitt responded in letters and through a spokesman that the commission can revisit the issue at its next meeting, scheduled for Oct. 29, but that he will not personally support a policy change.
Commission member Sheppard Davis, of Virginia Beach, also has asked that a public hearing be held Oct. 29 and that the hearing be advertised to encourage citizen input.
But a commission spokesman said Friday that a public notice would not likely be published. ``Is the issue on this month's agenda? No. Will it come up? Maybe. Do I expect the vote to change if it does come up? No,'' said spokesman Wilford Kale.
Pruitt said the decision last month - which will allow commercial fishermen to harvest a maximum of 2,500 bushels from the two sounds, beginning Dec. 1 - was based on a balancing of ``the best economic and sociological information available, as well as the scientific and biological information.''
He said there is no hard evidence that oysters in Tangier and Pocomoke sounds have developed a resistance to the two diseases that have ravaged oyster stocks in the Bay, MSX and Dermo.
To leave the oysters there, when they could die anyway from a host of environmental threats, would be a wasted chance to give struggling watermen a chance to make a small income this winter, Pruitt has said.
Gene Burreson, an oyster biologist from the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, said that while no laboratory tests have been done on oysters from the sound, the fact that they are simply alive is ``indirect evidence'' that they have developed some level of resistance.
He cited experiments at Rutgers that prove oysters can become resistant to MSX and Dermo, and noted that VIMS is currently conducting its own tests.
Burreson and the commission's own oyster scientist, Jim Wesson, advised against the harvest last month, arguing that it could jeopardize what little chance remains for adult oysters to spawn and help revive an ever-shrinking population.
``We're never going to get a recovery if every time we find a pocket of oysters that are potentially resistant, we go in and harvest them,'' Burreson said.
He noted a similar decision last year, when the commission, under pressure from watermen in need of work, opened up the Rappahannock River to oystering despite objections from scientists.
Only 121 bushels were harvested from the river, and the commission voted to again close the Rappahannock this year.
Until now, efforts to reverse the commission's ruling on the two sounds has come from Republicans. This has led some staffers and insiders to speculate that the state GOP, which has been beaten up on environmental issues, is trying to make some political hay by supporting oyster conservation.
But Democrats are joining the chorus as well. They include Walker, a ranking Democrat and president pro tem of the Senate, and state Sen. Emily Couric, a Democrat from Charlottesville. Couric said Friday she is drafting a letter to Pruitt, and Walker sent his written concerns to Pruitt Friday. by CNB