Virginia to get $1M for Chesapeake Bay research

Federal officials awarded more than $1 million to Virginia research labs on Tuesday to study some of the most important - and two of the most destructive - fish and shellfish species in the Chesapeake Bay.

The money is a big boost over what the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration gave last year for fisheries research, the result in part of President Barack Obama's executive order aimed at accelerating the Bay's restoration.

At a media event in Gloucester Point, NOAA officials announced a dozen grants to scientists at three state facilities: Virginia Institute of Marine Science, a branch of the College of William and Mary; Virginia Commonwealth University; and Old Dominion University.

The species that literally will be under the microscope in the coming year include native oysters, blue crabs, soft shell clams, striped bass, cow nose rays and blue catfish.

NOAA has handed out such fisheries grants since 1985, but the federal agency chose to spotlight its gifts this year to enhance public awareness of how government, scientists and wildlife managers work together to try to make wise policy decisions, said Andrew Larkin, an agency spokesman based in Norfolk.

For example, Larkin said, state regulations imposed three years ago in Virginia and Maryland to revive sagging crab populations in the Bay were based, in part, on NOAA-funded science. The regulations worked and stocks again are rebounding.

Today, marine scientists look at a Bay with conflicting problems among its fisheries. There are too many cow nose rays and blue catfish, both of which are considered invasive species, so scientists are searching for ways to control their unwanted presence - to essentially get rid of them.

Conversely, there are too few oysters, crabs, striped bass and clams - favored seafood staples of the Bay - so researchers will be examining strategies for reversing these trends.

The explosion of blue catfish in Virginia waters, especially the James River, is drawing much of the funding, or more than $367,000, according to NOAA figures.

The behemoths were introduced to Virginia waters as part of an effort to spur sports fishing and tourism. Instead, the fish are taking over many parts of the James, Rappahannock and Potomac rivers, gobbling up smaller fish and throwing the ecosystems out of balance.

Mark La Guardia, a marine scientist at VIMS, will study ways to make blue catfish more appealing to commercial palates, hoping more people will eat them in order to control their booming numbers.

First, though, La Guardia and colleagues will test whether mercury, toxic PCBs and other contaminants are collecting at elevated levels in tissues of the big blues: "You want to make sure they're safe to eat before you start encouraging people to go out and buy them."

At VCU, another experiment will try to quantify just how many native fish the blue catfish are devouring. And still another at VIMS will analyze the dynamics of how and where they grow in state waters.

Among other research funded Tuesday, scientists will study how to restore oysters without cow nose rays eating up all the profits; how rebuilding oysters helps to reduce nitrogen levels in the Bay; how to stop the crash of soft shell clam stocks in the wild; and how changing crab populations are affecting how they breed.

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