NEWPORT NEWS (AP) - A trade group is proposing its largest experiment to revive the Chesapeake Bay’s oyster population, seeking to grow 1.3 million disease-resistant bivalves.
The Virginia Seafood Council proposal would “plant” the Asian oysters in the Bay and on the Eastern Shore, starting June 1.
“We are very determined to continue forward with this,” said Frances Porter, executive director of the council. “It’s good for our industry as we continue to develop our markets for the Asian oyster.”
The Asian species — known as ariakensis, or the Chinese oyster — does not succumb to the same diseases that have nearly wiped out native stocks in recent decades. It’s larger than the native oyster and grows to market size much quicker. Its taste is comparable to the Bay’s briny oysters.
The Virginia Marine Resources Commission agreed to vote on the request after a public hearing next month in Newport News. The Army Corps of Engineers in Norfolk also must approve the experiment.
The 1.3 million oysters would be grown in protective cages or bags at 13 sites in coastal waters. Each would have to be certified as sexually sterile, and each would have to be removed by June 1, 2009.
One of the proposed sites is in the Lynnhaven River in Virginia Beach.
Cameron Chalmers expects to grow about 100,000 of the Asian species on leased bottom in waters near First Landing State Park. He has raised non-natives the past two years at the same locale, and they have won him over.
“They grow almost twice as fast” as natives, Mr. Chalmers said. “And they don’t need as much attention. They’re pretty amazing.”
Scientists and environmentalists remain skeptical. They worry the foreign species might spawn a new disease, compete with other aquatic life, or spark some other unforeseen problem.
All of the Asian oysters used in the council experiments have been reared at a hatchery run by the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, a branch of the College of William & Mary.
The government mandates that the babies come from the hatchery, given its adherence to mandatory safeguards and quarantines, designed to keep the Asian oysters from somehow escaping into the wild, according to the institute.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.