ABSTRACT
The oyster fishery in Virginia is on the rebound. After nearly 50 years of declining production, harvests from both grounds with naturally occurring Crassostrea virginica oysters that are publicly managed (public grounds) and grounds leased by private cultivators (private grounds) have been on the rise over the last decade. Landings from the public grounds were reported as being 11 times greater in 2013 to 2014 than ten years earlier; for the private grounds the increase was nearly 22 times greater. The dramatic upswing is a result of state-funded restoration programs on the public grounds and technological advances in aquaculture which primarily benefit private growers. One area that has been a focus of state restoration efforts is the public oyster grounds in the mouth of the Rappahannock. The Rappahannock River is one of five major tributaries flowing into the Chesapeake Bay. The oyster grounds of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries were a significant source of oysters for the U.S. market from the early nineteenth century. The long-term decline began with the appearance in the early 1960s of the parasites known as MSX (Haplosporidium nelsoni) and Dermo (Perkinsus marinus). Pollution, sedimentation and other environmental problems further contributed to this deterioration.
The I-ADApT tool is used to present the problems faced in the fishery over the last 50 years, the responses that have led to a revival of the fishery only in recent years and newly emerging challenges. First, background information about the bay and the fishery establish the context. The evolution of the governance structure since 1902 is then summarized. Stressors, both environmental and market forces, leading to the decline in the last half-century are described. The case study appraising the responses in one part of the fishery, the mouth of the Rappahannock River, is then presented.
