Open AccessCULTURE AND POLITICS OF OFF‐BOTTOM OYSTER FARMING IN CAPE MAY COUNTY, NEW JERSEY
Author(s) -
Down Russell J.
Publication year - 1973
Publication title -
proceedings of the annual workshop ‐ world mariculture society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.655
H-Index - 60
eISSN - 1749-7345
pISSN - 1043-5166
DOI - 10.1111/j.1749-7345.1973.tb00120.x
Subject(s) - oyster , bay , fishery , peninsula , cape , tributary , oceanography , environmental science , geography , geology , archaeology , biology , cartography
In 1966, Minchinia nelsoni (MSX)‐resistant oyster seed obtained from the Delaware Bay side of Cape May County peninsula was transferred to a natural shell bed in Holmes Creek. This creek is a tributary of the Great Sound on the Atlantic Ocean side of the peninsula where all live oysters had disappeared from formerly abundant natural live beds–presumably as a result of decades of pesticide effect upon larval stages. In 1967‐8, two long, narrow lagoons were dredged in tidal marsh at the entrance of Holmes Creek, and growth of oysters in these lagoons, in racks and on vertical lines was monitored. In 1969, the local county government, with State Health Department approval, erected a sewage treatment plant and outfall within one tidal cycle of this operation, thereby causing it to be condemned for shellfish harvesting. Since then, small commercial amounts of oysters have been rafted, to document the exact amount of actual and potential loss due to condemnation. A reusable cultch assembly of scrap tire beads strung in stacks has been devised and a method for growing oysters using these materials has been tested and patented. Small commercial quantities of rafted oysters on shell and reusable cultch have been brought to market size and are being maintained suspended from rafts An example of the damaging behavior of local and state politicians and bureaucrats is reviewed, and methods are suggested for avoiding such damages.