By Kenneth C. Rossignol
ST. MARY’S TODAY
UPDATE (Jan. 18, 2009) --- Senator Roy Dyson announces that the State of Maryland will hold a public open house to view the oyster restoration plan. At the Jan. 12th meeting of the St. Mary's Commissioner Board, only Commissioner Larry Jarboe voted in favor of the oyster sanctuaries and signed a letter of support to the Governor.
DNR Public Open House on Oyster Restoration Plan:
January 26th, 12:00 noon to 8:00 p.m.
Solomons Volunteer Rescue Squad
13150 H.G. Trueman Rd., Solomons, MD 20688
The open house will consist of a 60-poster display that will take citizens through the elements of the plan. Members of the DNR Shellfish Program team will be on hand to answer questions and receive comments. The sessions will run for 7 to 8 hours during the day and evening allowing ample opportunity for the public to attend. The public is welcome to come at any time, and stay as long as they need.
LEONARDTOWN (Jan. 5, 2009) --- A proposal by Governor Martin O’Malley to put two local rivers into an oyster sanctuary and prevent the taking of oysters from the Patuxent and St. Mary’s Rivers have been met with strong opposition from two St. Mary’s County Commissioners – Jackie Russell (D. St. George Island), a commercial waterman, and Tommy Mattingly.
Commissioner Larry Jarboe (R. Golden Beach), proposed to the Board at their meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 5th, that they send a letter of support to Gov. O’Malley.
Jarboe said that the Rockfish Moratorium more than twenty years ago was responsible for bringing back the rockfish to record numbers, that the effort worked and has paid off handsomely for the Chesapeake.
The oyster has fallen off to but about one percent of the annual harvest from a hundred years ago.
The State has planted billions of oysters in various locations but watermen have operated at night illegally and cleaned out oyster beds of new small oysters while state officials have scratched their heads and wondered what happened.
Police will be using cameras and radar to snare poachers but in St. Mary’s County they shouldn’t have to work that hard as about half of the dozen or so working watermen are already in federal prison for conducting years worth of illegal harvesting of rockfish.
Jarboe told ST. MARY’S TODAY that he was astounded that Russell and Mattingly wouldn’t support the efforts of the Governor to expand the protected sanctuaries of the state by expanding those areas from 9 percent to 24 percent.
“We saw how great the Rockfish protection worked out and this state would really benefit from the oyster making a big comeback as they filter the Bay waters and help clean it all up,” said Jarboe.
The following is the text of a letter proposed by Jarboe:
“Governor O'Malley,
Thank you for including the Patuxent River and the St. Mary's River into your plan to increase oyster populations and improve water quality in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
By incorporating oyster sanctuaries within these two rivers, there will be protected river bottom where these water filtering mollusks can naturally reseed other areas both downstream and upstream. The added resources dedicated to aquaculture and improved enforcement of poachers will help future generations witness Maryland's rivers and Bay as a clean abundant resource for fishermen, boaters, and commercial watermen.
The St. Mary's County Commissioners are grateful for your efforts to bring back the native oyster population and enthusiastically endorse your oyster recovery plan.”
Commissioners Kenny Dement (R. Wildewood/Piney Point) and Dan Raley (D. Great Mills) took no stand on the issue.
Oyster Plan Key to Restoration Puzzle
