More of region's waters to open for clam, oyster harvesting

VIRGINIA BEACH

When 1,400 acres of the Lynnhaven River were reopened last year to oyster and clam harvesting after decades of closure, a big question lingered: Could it last, or would pollution and bacteria shut down the river again?

The Virginia Health Department announced test results this week that answer that question, and then some. Not only did the same areas stay clean enough this year for unrestricted shellfishing, but another 112 acres did so too.

The cleaner conditions, experts say, buck a statewide trend in which more sections of more waterways are being closed or limited to oystering and clamming because of increased bacteria contamination.

"There's really something unusual and remarkable going on in the Lynnhaven," said Robert Croonenberghs, state health director of shellfish sanitation. "Clearly, something is working."

Local environmentalists and Virginia Beach officials expressed relief and satisfaction with the sampling results, released Monday and Tuesday along with new maps defining the clean-water zones.

They said their combined efforts in recent years in trying to clean up the Lynnhaven are indisputably paying off.

"It's really quite significant, and we're very, very pleased," said Karen Forget, executive director of Lynnhaven River Now, a group working to revive Virginia Beach's biggest river system.

The watershed, which drains into the Chesapeake Bay, is home to about 220,000 people, hundreds of pleasure boats, restaurants, shopping malls and some 60,000 dogs. That all translates into a huge quantity of bacteria-rich wastes threatening the Lynnhaven's environmental health.

The river once was renowned for its big salty oysters, which a robust local industry exported to high-end markets in Europe and across America.

But swift waterfront development changed all that in the 1960s and '70s. While bacteria pollution had closed down sections of Linkhorn Bay to shellfishing in 1930, the main stem of the Lynnhaven was shuttered for good by the state in 1986. The oyster industry soon followed.

Since then, the city has spent about $180 million to extend public sewage lines to homes and businesses. A no-discharge rule for boat sewage was imposed, marinas offered pump-out stations to boaters, and resident s were encouraged to use less fertilizer on their lawns and gardens and to scoop up after their pets.

"People told us it was too big of a problem, that we couldn't help restore the Lynnhaven," said Clay Bernick, environmental manager for the city of Virginia Beach. "But the efforts we've taken are taking effect and making a difference."

More help is on the way, Bernick said.

The city is eyeing several projects to better filter storm water off streets, off parking lots and through storm drains. And it is supporting programs involving the state, scientists, environmental groups, water men and the Army Corps of Engineers for building more artificial oyster reefs in the Lynnhaven.

Test results this year allowed the state Health Department to open 6 new acres in Broad Bay to shellfishing, 68 acres in Linkhorn Bay and 52 acres at the mouth of the Lynnhaven's Western Branch.

The state also closed 14 acres in the Eastern Branch, for a net gain of 112 acres.

In all, that means 31 percent of the river will be open to shellfish harvesting once the new maps take effect on Nov. 18. Last year, about 29 percent of the river was available.

It does not mean an open season on oysters and clams. Almost all of the shellfishing grounds in the Lynnhaven are owned by private leaseholders, barring watermen from simply motoring onto a site and pulling up product.

It means, though, that water men can make deals with leaseholders to harvest available oysters and clams on the river bottom or buy the leases outright themselves, or that leaseholders can enjoy their own shellfish.

John Bull, a spokesman for the Virginia Marine Resources Commission, which manages those leases, said his office received a number of inquiries last year from water men and entrepreneurs about obtaining harvest rights, and he expects that trend to continue this year.

Scott Harper, (757) 446-2340, scott.harper@pilotonline.com