Due to dramatic declines in the number of oysters living in the Chesapeake Bay and the seafood industry's eagerness to restore a viable local fishery, the possibility of introducing non-native species into the Bay's waters is being explored.
Over the past century, harvests of the Bay's native oyster, Crassostrea virginica or the Eastern oyster, have declined from more than 33 million pounds annually in the 1950s to 2.5 million pounds in 2000. While most of the historic decline is attributed to modern habitat degradation and overharvest, two diseases, Dermo and MSX, are considered the leading cause of native oyster mortality.
Dermo and MSX were first discovered in the Eastern oyster in the 1950s. While the effects of MSX and Dermo are most acute in higher salinity waters found in the lower portion of the Bay, both diseases have expanded into less saline waters further up the Bay. Scientists believe MSX was inadvertently introduced to the Chesapeake Bay through importations of a foreign oyster, Crassostrea gigas, in the 1930s.
This is just stupid. There is virtually no industrial runoff introduced in to the Bay, as the factories were shut down for being dirty. Yet, at least once a year there is a massive (millions of gallons) raw sewage release from treatment plants on the Potomac and Jone's Falls Rivers.
In addition, there is tremendous infusion of nitrates from poultry farms which creates eutrophication, a situation not at all helpful for the blue crabs, stripped bass, and oysters.
I included Larry Simms comments so that I could point out that this guy has singlehanded lead the watermen down the path to devastation by climbing in to bed with two dubiously accredited airhead enviros and adjusting the catch regs. He gives in on sizes, times, and seasons but holds on to allowing the watermen to continue to take female bluecrabs before they're mature, and he fights tooth and nail to continue to allow the use of scrappers (dredges towed behind the boat) to catch crabs that wipe out anything on the bottom they come in contact with. Including oysterbeds.
The Bay is healthy and getting better but introducing a new species is a recipe for disaster. And guys like Simms are selling out his constiuents by condoning the activity.
It should also be noted that he was the first one to go to the state to get disaster relief for the watermen when it rained too much and kept them from work. Once the government gets its hooks in you, it doesn't go away.
Muleteam1