Virginia's Oyster Populations Now About 1% Of Levels 100 Years Ago - Times-Dispatch

[hatrack]

NEWPORT NEWS The light of a cold dawn revealed an endangered species on the James River -- waterman Rodgers Green of Gloucester. Green catches oysters the old-fashioned way, with 16-foot tongs that resemble two rakes attached like scissors.

Disease, pollution and long-ago overharvesting have sunk Virginia's oyster population to about 1 percent of a century ago. For Green, 55, thoughts of the future leave a bad taste in his mouth. "This is about the last of it," Green said aboard his 36-foot workboat, the Donna Lisa. "I can't see nothing to encourage the younger generation to even try to get into it."

EDIT

The oyster was once so abundant in the bay region that huge piles of them and their shells -- variously called reefs, rocks, shoals or bars -- posed hazards to boats. Parts of the James today, such as Wreck Shoal and Horsehead Shoal, were named after oyster reefs, which loomed just below the surface or, at low tide, jutted slightly above water. Indians and early settlers waded to hand-pick oysters. Colonists took up tonging, and more-effective, mechanized dredges joined tongers' boats after the Civil War. By the end of the 1800s, the bay region's oyster fishery became the largest in the world, stocking restaurants from New York to San Francisco.

In the late 1800s, Virginia watermen harvested between 6 million and 8 million bushels a year. Today, the annual catch totals a meager 20,000 to 80,000 bushels. On a typical day, Green and Lett collect eight to 10 bushels, which they sell for about $30 a bushel. After subtracting for gas and other expenses, the men made about $135 each. A decade or so ago, Green said, "We'd catch twice that many in half the amount of time."

EDIT

http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/state_regional/article/JAME26_20090125-223217/188458/

[John Q. Citizen]

1. It's enough to make a person cry.

[Barrett808]

2. "Watching the world fall apart on TV may be too much for even the stoutest brains to take."

http://www.subgenius.com

[tom_paine]

3. That's not enough! We can do BETTER and get it down to 0%!

USA #1! USA #1!

(for the humor-impaired, of which I am sometimes one: :sarcasm: )