More than 100 people gathered at the Todd Performing Arts Center at Chesapeake College on the Eastern Shore for the final hearing before the governor's new oyster plan goes into effect this fall.
The hearing got heated at times, with finger-pointing and accusations that the event was simply for show and that the plan was a done deal.
"They've done an excellent job, an excellent job, of putting lipstick on a pig," said Bunky...
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entitlement program - 2010-08-08 12:14:41
Marine scientists seem to have strong consensus that oyster populations have been at or near 1% of natural abundance. Its been like this for years, maybe decades. The mere fact that unlimited harvesting continued under collapsed conditions was a precedent-setting policy decision that will make it very hard to stop this nonsense now. Shoddy resource management isn't just a policy now, its a cultural reality. Advocates of change are certainly justified in their attempts to fix this, but in the end the legal facets of this entitlement program will be a mountain to climb. The continued disregard of these considerations set the table for less than a satisfactory outcome in the legislature. You should believe the watermen associations are actively and successfully lobbying their legislators to undermine a new oyster policy. I sincerely hope I'm wrong, but I don't believe we'll see the closures/sanctuaries the state is pursuing.
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Matt Mobley - Leonardtown, MD - Karma: Neutral
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Oops - 2010-08-07 00:21:45
Sorry for the formatting errors. Cut-and-paste job.
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Salvatorre Bagatelli - Annapolis, MD - Karma: Good
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Watermen - 2010-08-06 21:03:19
This story is repeated every time a bay initiative is rolled out: program announcedpublic meetingwatermen show up and scream and stomp their feetwatermen remind everyone how tough it is for them to make ends meet. Fellahs, let me clue you in. Things are tough all over. No one, especially the state, owes you a living. Is it worth allowing bay aquaculture to collapse in order to keep the livelihood of a few thousand watermen on life-support? I have never seen the watermen or its lobbying arm offer any suggestions or solutions. Ever. They fight every attempt at preserving and nurturing the very body of water on which their livelihood depends. Compromise is never on the table. And, if that werent enough, when the species that they harvest begin to collapse, the watermen are the first ones with their hands out asking what the state is going to do for them And, frankly, I resent Mr. Powleys implication that he has more of a right to the bay oyster than do I. So you paid for a license? Bully for you! Thats because I take about two dozen crabs out of the water per season, while you take hundreds of bushels. I pay for a license, too, and it is proportionate to the number of crabs that I harvest. Maybe crabbing and oystering would be easier for the watermen if they got off their high horses. Lets hear some actual solutions and less whining. Its not your bay.
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Salvatorre Bagatelli - Annapolis, MD - Karma: Good
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solution - 2010-08-06 15:02:43
dont blame the watermen it all larry simms .Karma: Excellent
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ALFRED PARKINSON III - GREENSBORO, MD - Karma: Neutral
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Solution? - 2010-08-06 13:43:11
Sanctuaries mean less area to harvest oysters. But still the same number of licenses issued? Shouldn't they have cut the number of licenses too? Seems like they need to do that for now until oysters have a chance to come back. And, yes, the oysters belong to all of us.
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Sally Abbott - Annapolis, MD - Karma: Excellent
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The bay is a chicken fishery - 2010-08-06 13:23:10
Our representatives have been eating bribes by the chicken industry, they ate chicken bribes (campaign contributions/lobbyist lunches, trips, spa pamperings etc.), and now they are chickens, trying to please whoever squawked loudest last.
At the notion that their patron industry would come under legal threat they threatened the University of Maryland Environmental Law Clinic, a publicly funded non-profit doing what professional state regulators neglected to do - their job regulating pollution from chicken farms mainly, and other agriculture.
The fact is no matter what licensing money watermen have paid, they have neglected to bribe their politicians to support protecting the Chesapeake Bay as a aquatic fishery over the bribes of the chicken farmers. The bay and its tributairies is now a bacteria infested cess pool that is hard for oysters to thrive in and dangerous for people to swim in. In a related issue I just read of a waterman getting a bacteria infection on their leg from Vibrato vulnificus near Brooms Island.
That is our legacy, we have all allowed our politicians and political system to be tainted by bribes and corporate interests having more stock in our representatives than we can afford to, or than our watermen paying the legitimate fees that are associated with their business.
Until we demand our democracy back, until we demand our politicians back, we'll have this or that investor buying not all, but enough of our representatives from us, that our fellow local watermen get the short end of the stick while big chicken and the big agriculture that grows the corn that becomes chicken feed continue to own the bay as a sewer to dispose of their byproducts through.
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William Small - Annapolis, MD - Karma: Excellent
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No perfect answers. - 2010-08-06 13:11:22
I appreciate the watermen are angry. The oyster population has been slammed, 'Chesapeake Gold' has been gone for a couple generations. We know it's a combination of factors and over-fishing is one of them. Blaming the government or O'Malley is off the mark. OMalley is trying to bring back the fishery. It's interesting watermen want the government to haul shells down the bay, then bring them north so they can harvest. This is similar to waterment demands to harvest oysters the government raised and re-introduced. Here's a plan; start your own aquaculture business, raise and harvest them without the government. DNR's program may not be perfect, but without management there will be nothing left. The Bay belongs to all the citizens of Maryland and Virginia. Restablishing the oyster population will contribute to cleaning the Bay.
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harry trampolini - severna park, MD - Karma: Excellent
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solution - 2010-08-06 12:30:25
Here's the alternative plan. Let the watermen keep oystering like they have been and the 1% will be 0% in 2 years and then they can put themselves out of business...
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Paul Newman - Annapolis, MD - Karma: Excellent
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