Disease, pollution and a century of over-harvesting decimated the Chesapeake Bay's wild oyster population. As Virginia's wild oyster season gets underway, there are new harvest restrictions and concerns over the state of this key bay species.
New restrictions are aimed at part-time watermen who take the best oysters when the season opens, then leave. That puts added pressure on an already stressed wild oyster population which worries Virginia Resources Commissioner John Bull.
"We're at a point now where the stocks can't grow fast enough to provide enough oysters for the more than 1,100 license holders to harvest their daily bushel limit," says Bull. "This is not at a sustainable level."
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