DELTAVILLE – Oyster season is under way in Virginia, and here at the mouth of the Rappahannock River, where it meets the open waters of the Chesapeake Bay, a strange sight appeared last week: dozens of work boats loaded with big, fat oysters.
The image of sunbaked watermen hauling up so many oysters was odd because for years now, few of the succulent bivalves could be found in the wild, the result of decades of pollution, ruined habitat and devastating diseases.
But oyster harvests have increased for three consecutive years in Virginia, the first time that has happened in a generation. That's due largely to a state policy that resembles one used by farmers who rotate their fields and rest their soil.
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