Page 32 - aruba-today-20170503

A32 FEATURE
Wednesday 3 May 2017
Wealthy homeowners take on oystermen in war for the coast

BEN FINLEY demand. islators haven’t found a so-
Associated Press Farming techniques also lution.
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP) changed. Traditionally, Conflicts also have flared
— Oystermen, pirates and oysters are grown on the up along Maryland’s
police clashed violently bottom of a calm and salty Patuxent River, the coastal
more than a century ago river or bay, then harvest- lagoons of Rhode Island
over who could collect ed with tongs or dredges and on Martha’s Vineyard
the Chesapeake Bay’s that pull them onto boats. in Massachusetts.
tasty and lucrative oys- Now, fishermen are in- In Delaware, a group of
ters. As the shellfish makes creasingly using cages to people who mostly own
a comeback, a modern- grow oysters over a two- vacation homes success-
day oyster war is brewing, to-three year period. The fully blocked potential oys-
this time between wealthy equipment keeps preda- ter farming along their part
waterfront property own- tors away and produces of an inland bay.
ers and working-class fish- oysters with a more uniform “Oftentimes, affluent and
ermen. shape and size, which res- new members of the com-
Over the past five years, taurants prefer. munity have the point of
oyster production has dou- But the cages are often view that they own the wa-
bled on the East Coast, placed in shallower water ter in front of them, which
driven by new farming closer to shore — and peo- is really not true,” said Bob
methods, cleaner water ple’s homes. Rheault, executive director
and Americans’ growing Virginia Beach is perhaps of the East Coast Shellfish
taste for orders on the half ground zero for today’s Growers Association. “We
shell. The resurgence has oyster war. The state’s larg- need to win back our so-
led to unprecedented re- est city sits at the mouth of cial license to farm.”
sistance from coastal Vir- the Chesapeake Bay. And Rheault said he’s seen
ginians who want to main- In this Thursday, Feb. 23, 2017 photo, oysterman, Chris Ludford, oysters thrive in the city’s these battles “up and
tain picturesque views from points out new oyster growth on a wild oyster in his leased oys- Lynnhaven River, a net- down the East Coast” —
their waterfront homes ter beds on the Lynnhaven River in Virginia Beach, Va. work of bays and creeks even before the crop be-
and has fueled a debate Associated Press flowing past expensive gan to double five years
over access to public wa- homes. Lynnhaven oysters ago.
terways. ing number of oystermen industrial area,” said John
“These people can’t have — dressed in waders and Korte, a retired NASA aero-
it all,” said Chris Ludford, often tending cages of space engineer in Virginia
an oysterman in Virginia shellfish — spoil their views Beach who’s among resi-
Beach who sells to nearby and invade their privacy. dents concerned about
farm-to-table restaurants. Residents also worry about oyster farming’s prolif-
Ludford said he faces less access to the water eration. “They may be a
fierce pushback along a and the safety of boaters hundred feet away from
Chesapeake Bay tributary and swimmers. someone’s yard.”
from people with “a $2,000 Low tides often expose Ben Stagg, chief engineer
painting in their house of oyster cages, usually ac- at the Virginia Marine Re-
some old bearded oyster- companied by markers or sources Commission, said
warning signs that protrude the state is poised to break
its record of leased acre-
age for oyster growing.
But nearly 30 percent of
more than 400 new lease
applications face opposi-
tion, an unprecedented
number that has led to a In this Friday, April 7, 2017 photo, John J. Korte gestures as he
backlog of leases awaiting points out oyster cages along a sand bar in Back Bay waterway
approval. in Virginia Beach, Va. Associated Press
“Occasionally I can re-
solve those by having the
parties get together and are well-known for their “The industry was there be-
adjust the area further off- salty taste and size. fore the waterfront man-
shore,” Stagg said. “But of- A state task force was sions were built,” Rheault
tentimes, I can’t.” formed to find compro- added. “But it hasn’t been
There hasn’t been this mise. It recommended giv- there for this generation.”
much interest in oysters ing residents more power Ludford, who also works as
in Virginia since the early to block nearby oyster a Virginia Beach firefighter,
1960s. Since then, disease leases. But the idea was is relatively new to the busi-
and overfishing took hold rejected by the Virginia ness. He and other relatives
In this Thursday, Feb. 23, 2017 photo, oysterman Chris Ludford, Marine Resources Commis- started growing oysters in
works sorting oysters on his lease oyster beds on the Lynnhaven and growers started to dis-
River in Virginia Beach, Va. appear. sion, with the majority of 2010 after leaving the crab
Associated Press Over the last few decades, commissioners saying state industry.
breeding programs have lawmakers should step in. On a recent morning,
man tonging oysters. from the surface. In some produced more disease- Proposals in the Statehouse Ludford sorted through
“But they don’t want to places, cages float. resistant and faster-grow- have included raising the cages as he stood in the
look out their window and “All of sudden you have ing oysters. The water’s cost of an oyster farming Lynnhaven River, hundreds
see the real thing,” he said. people working in your cleaner. American palates lease from $1.50 an acre of yards from the nearest
Homeowners say the grow- backyard like it was some have evolved, increasing annually to $5,000. But leg- home.q