As feds push aquaculture, watermen push back

[horsefly]

As feds push aquaculture, watermen push back
Report details demise of Bay's fishing industry
by Sean R. Sedam | Staff Writer
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Laurie DeWitt/The Gazette
Capt. Larry Simns of the Maryland Watermen's Association talks about the poor health of the Chesapeake Bay, while Peyton Robertson of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Chesapeake office (left) and Tommy Landers of Environment Maryland look on.
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ANNAPOLIS — A debate over aquaculture's role in the future of the Chesapeake Bay may be driving a wedge between government officials trying to restore life in the prized estuary and the men who have used largely the same methods for more than 100 years to make a living on the water.

Oxygen-deficient "dead zones" in the Bay are leading to the disappearance of aquatic life and of the watermen who harvest it for seafood markets, said a report released Wednesday that details how life has changed for watermen and their communities in recent decades.

On the surface, both the watermen and federal officials say they want the same thing: a vibrant Chesapeake Bay able to sustain crabs, clams, oysters, fish and watermen.

Below the surface, there is tension and mistrust among watermen who believe the government is intent on reviving the fishing industry in the region at the expense of a way of life.

The government is "trying to make big business run the whole thing instead of small independent businessmen," said Larry Simns, longtime president of the Maryland Watermen's Association.

Simns has no problem with aquaculture, defined as the regulation and cultivation of water animals and plants for human use or consumption.

At 72, Simns has spent his working life fishing on the Bay and about half of that time experimenting with aquaculture.

But he makes no secret that aquaculture is not the culture of watermen.

"They're saying they want to help the watermen with aquaculture, but the watermen, they know how to grow oysters," he said. "And if it was going to be profitable they would be doing it. We're about making a living."

While certain forms of aquaculture, such as salmon farming, are regarded as harmful to an ecosystem, growing shellfish such as oysters — a natural filter — is considered beneficial.

"We should go forward with trying to restore the native oyster, but in order to do that we've got to separate the objectives of ecological restoration and economic viability of the industry," said Peyton Robertson, director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Chesapeake Bay office.

That requires establishing large-scale sanctuaries in protected areas, supporting the industry through development of viable aquaculture "and ensuring that there's a means for [watermen] to transition to some different ways of doing business," he said.

Growing oysters in captivity has proved too labor intensive and just as tricky as harvesting them from the wild, said Simns, who operates a fishing charter from Rock Hall but has turned to crabbing recently as the poor economy has hurt the charter business.

Maryland has 5,931 licensed commercial crabbers. That number has dwindled from as many as 10,000 people who were engaged in some form of commercial fishing on the Bay as recently as six years ago, Simns said.

Preserving life in the Bay and the livelihood of the watermen who make a living on it will take a new approach, advocates and federal officials agree.

Stronger limits on pollution from agriculture and development are needed, according to the report by the Environment Maryland Research & Policy Center. The report also says that a better job must be done curbing pollution from wastewater treatment plants.

Bay restoration discussions must consider "not just the waters, not just the fisheries, not just the marine life, but the human life and the human communities that thrive and have thrived historically off of the Bay and the Bay's vast cornucopia of marine life," said Tommy Landers, field organizer for the nonprofit group Environment Maryland.

The 34-page report comes after a week that saw seven federal agencies issue draft plans for cleaning up the Bay and Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin (D) of Pikesville release details of a Chesapeake Bay Program reauthorization bill that would provide cap-and-trade credits on dumping nitrogen and phosphorus into the Bay's waters. Cardin also called for a 2020 deadline for launching all restoration efforts.

The report also comes as federal and state governments in recent months have stepped up money and programs aimed at transitioning the Bay toward greater economic viability.

In 2008, the General Assembly approved $3 million to help employ watermen and provide financial assistance to seafood businesses affected by the crab decline.

A year ago, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Carlos M. Gutierrez declared the Bay's blue crab fishery an economic disaster.

In January, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Marine Fisheries Service awarded Maryland $10 million to help bail out the crab industry and announced a three-year plan developed by NOAA and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources that included a focus on aquaculture.

[madcrabber1113]

Man I wish someone would bail out my industry 

[horsefly]

Personally, I dont really know how the [Sam Hill] this will actually will work.

[madcrabber1113]

Me niether.Government usually screws it up. 

[Crab A Lot]

Personally, I dont really know how the [Sam Hill] this will actually will work.

   HF,

         Nether does anyone else,it's hasn't for the last 30 years 

[csbooher]

government = blind man with a bat swinging at a pinata...

if they want to do it right hire all commerical crabbers pay them x amount of money for a year to not crab, ban rec crabbing for a year.  Bet the difference in crabs on the bay would surprise them, its not the harvest thats hurting its the idiots who build 5 miles of parking lots next to the water...

[phillyfireman]

To me the problem with the health of the fisheries and the bay are like a long row of domino's. It's the pollution that is the geneses of the bays problem. With overfishing a distant second. Reduce the nitrogen coming into the bay and enable the menhaden to remove most of the algae blooms that occurs from the excess nitrogen that will still get thru.  Remove a large percentage of the algae, and you will see a return of the sought after submerged aquatic vegetation which will provide places for our crabs to molt, and who knows how the oysters might respond ? might just see a rebirth of the bay. 

If we can reduce/remove the nitrogen in the bay then hopefully we as crabbers both rec and comm will be able to do what we love and pass this on to our children and grandchildren.

[R D]

If you really want to know about the things you just pointed out then look up Tampa Bay and all the problems with it,they mirror the Chesapeake.
They have very few male crabs but plenty of sooks,no sea grass,lot of algae blooms and dead zones,PLENTY OF MENHADEN and nitrogen and too many people living around on or using the watershed.

[phillyfireman]

There are those that would say that there are PLENTY of menhaden in the chesapeak to. I'm still looking for anything showing population estimates. Maybe they just need to let the bunker population catch up to their food source. gulf and the chessy 

[R D]

Well if they havn't caught up down here by now then they never will,it's been 14 years since the net ban,we had plenty of menhaden then and while there don't seem to be more now there are still plenty.

[procrabber]

i can safely say there will be no oyster aquaculture on the lower eastern shore until the last waterman is shot dead or in jail.  there is such a deserved distrust of anything the dnr does:  1- they have screwed everything up forever, 2- their research has historically been biased against commercial watermen and strongly favor continued recreational destruction of the bay.

counting menhaden, or crabs for that matter, is like counting mosquitos for a day.  there were a bunch at dawn, but none at noon... did they all die?  nope cause they are out again in the evening.  then the dnr comes up with a number of 322,230,812 crabs in the bay?   huh, my guess is the standard deviation on this data is about +/-400,000,000.  mind you i have published peer reviewed papers on quantifying crabs before.  it is like quantifying chris angel's show, made up numbers based on BS

[phillyfireman]

i can safely say there will be no oyster aquaculture on the lower eastern shore until the last waterman is shot dead or in jail.  there is such a deserved distrust of anything the dnr does:  1- they have screwed everything up forever, 2- their research has historically been biased against commercial watermen and strongly favor continued recreational destruction of the bay.

counting menhaden, or crabs for that matter, is like counting mosquitos for a day.  there were a bunch at dawn, but none at noon... did they all die?  nope cause they are out again in the evening.  then the dnr comes up with a number of 322,230,812 crabs in the bay?   huh, my guess is the standard deviation on this data is about +/-400,000,000.  mind you i have published peer reviewed papers on quantifying crabs before.  it is like quantifying chris angel's show, made up numbers based on BS

Is there a group of concerned waterman(rec and comm) that can dispute the claims with science and possibly file a suit against the istitutions. Maybe something needs to be done in the court. If the evidence is there I'll support it.(and so will a lot of other people.

[jack1747]

i can safely say there will be no oyster aquaculture on the lower eastern shore until the last waterman is shot dead or in jail.  there is such a deserved distrust of anything the dnr does:  1- they have screwed everything up forever, 2- their research has historically been biased against commercial watermen and strongly favor continued recreational destruction of the bay.

counting menhaden, or crabs for that matter, is like counting mosquitos for a day.  there were a bunch at dawn, but none at noon... did they all die?  nope cause they are out again in the evening.  then the dnr comes up with a number of 322,230,812 crabs in the bay?   huh, my guess is the standard deviation on this data is about +/-400,000,000.  mind you i have published peer reviewed papers on quantifying crabs before.  it is like quantifying chris angel's show, made up numbers based on BS

Links please...  And not to pay sites thank you...

[ACFISHERIES]

I don't much about your area,but I know that the clam aquaculture program in Cedar Key Fl. was a savior to many commercial fishermen after the 1995 net ban. Seems like Cedar Key has the right amount of salinty/algae/whatever(I'm not a clammer) to produce a marketable size clam in the shortest period of time(compared to other areas of the state) There has been some good money made in that industry. It's just like everything else, it takes commitment and dedication and TIME. Is aquaculture such a bad thing?

[R D]

Those boys in CK have had their bad times to like over a year before any money started flowing,varmits getting into the clams,storms sliting them over and killing them and thieves stealing them not to mention the normal ups and downs of the market.

[ACFISHERIES]

Those boys in CK have had their bad times to like over a year before any money started flowing,varmits getting into the clams,storms sliting them over and killing them and thieves stealing them not to mention the normal ups and downs of the market.

I agree, but the ones that stuck with it and put in the time and LEARNED from their mistakes have done well for themselves