Lynnhaven shellfishing areas to stay open

The state Health Department will close the mouth of Pleasure House Creek to oyster and clam harvesting beginning next week but will leave open more than 1,400 acres of the Lynnhaven River to unrestricted shellfishing.

Environmentalists and city officials were relieved to hear the news this week, worried that the state might have been forced to close more sections of the Lynnhaven because of bacteria pollution.

But after months of sampling and analysis, health investigators found few new problems.

"We're very excited that we basically held our own this year," said Karen Forget, executive director Lynnhaven River Now, an environmental group working to restore the largest river system in Virginia Beach.

She noted that sections of Linkhorn Bay, which had been off-limits to oystering and clamming from 1930 until being reopened in 2008, remained clean enough again this year to allow unlimited shellfish harvesting.

"That means we're making strides, the water quality is getting better and we're making a difference," Forget said Friday.

The Health Department announcement also was welcome news to a burgeoning group of commercial fishermen and entrepreneurs who have started to grow, harvest and sell famed Lynnhaven oysters again.

Big, salty and plump, Lynnhaven oysters once were coveted in seafood markets and restaurants around the world. But rapid shoreline development and failing septic systems in Virginia Beach in the 1960s and '70s changed all that.

By 1986, the main stem of the Lynnhaven River was shut down as a result of bacteria contamination, and the local oyster trade quickly crashed.

In 2007, though, the river became an environmental success story after the state lifted no-harvest restrictions for oysters and clams on more than 1,400 acres of the Lynnhaven.

Last year, that catch zone expanded by 112 acres. And this year, all of the commercial growing areas in the eastern portion of the Lynnhaven - mostly Broad Bay, Linkhorn Bay and the Narrows - were left alone.

Officials and environmentalists attribute the turnaround to a number of factors, including a no-dumping rule for boat sewage throughout the Lynnhaven; more than $180 million in city sewer improvements in recent years; and public education campaigns encouraging people to use less lawn fertilizer and to pick up pet wastes before they wash into the river.

Bob Croonenberghs, state director of shellfish sanitation, said high fecal bacteria levels at the mouth of Pleasure House Creek were to blame for its closure. He could not say what was causing the increased levels.

The restriction will take effect Friday and will remain in place until monthly sampling shows a consistent pattern of improvement and meets state health standards.

Forget said there is little, if any, shellfish harvesting in that newly closed area. Still, she was surprised that bacteria counts would increase there, noting the lack of significant development or other bacteria sources nearby.

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