{"id":69528,"date":"2003-09-29T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2003-09-29T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/uri-researcher-proposed-introduction-of-non-native-oysters-could-impact-entire-east-coast\/"},"modified":"2003-09-29T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2003-09-29T00:00:00","slug":"uri-researcher-proposed-introduction-of-non-native-oysters-could-impact-entire-east-coast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2003\/09\/uri-researcher-proposed-introduction-of-non-native-oysters-could-impact-entire-east-coast\/","title":{"rendered":"溏心vlog免费B站 researcher: Proposed introduction of non-native oysters could impact entire East Coast"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\tMedia Contact: Todd McLeish 874-7892
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\nCo-chair of national committee
\nadvises government, industry
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\nKINGSTON, R.I. — September 29, 2003 — At a time when exotic species are being blamed for significant population declines of native species around the world, some government officials and the oyster industry in the Chesapeake Bay area are clamoring to introduce the Asian Suminoe oyster (Crassotrea ariakensis) to boost the economy.
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\n\tBut 溏心vlog免费B站 Professor James Anderson of Wakefield, who recently co-chaired a National Research Council committee examining the proposal, cautions that a rapid introduction of the non-native oysters could potentially cause considerable problems up and down the East Coast and ultimately have a negative impact on the region\u2019s economy.
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\n\t“It\u2019s very difficult to contain most introduced species once they\u2019re in the environment,” Anderson said, citing the examples of zebra mussels and kudzu, which have spread rapidly and done irreparable harm to local species. “We don\u2019t know much about the biology of the Suminoe oyster and how it will compete with native oysters. It might undermine the recovery of the native species.”
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\n\tAnderson\u2019s committee was less concerned with the impact of introducing the oyster to the Bay than they were with potential “hitchhikers” \u2013 diseases, crabs, sponges or other organisms that might be relocated to the Bay along with the transplanted oysters.
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\n\tCommercial harvest of oysters in the Chesapeake Bay is now less than one percent of what it was a century ago, due in large part to fishing pressures and habitat
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\ndegradation caused by agricultural, industrial and residential pollution. In recent decades, however, the diseases MSX and Dermo have been identified as the primary reasons for further decline. The result has been an economic disaster for many communities tied to the oyster industry and has contributed to a degradation of the Bay\u2019s water quality, since oysters filter the water of microscopic algae and therefore contribute to the water quality of the Bay.
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\n\tThe committee was charged with analyzing the ecological and socio-economic risks associated with three management options: not introducing non-native oysters at all; introducing a limited number of sterile non-native oysters; or introducing large numbers of reproductive Asian oysters. All three options had many supporters. Maryland Gov. Robert Ehrlich supported immediate introductions of reproductive oysters.
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\n\tThe committee concluded that the best option was a controlled aquaculture of the sterile oysters so their impact on the Bay\u2019s ecosystem could be better evaluated before a full-scale introduction was done.
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\n\t“Decisions being made in the Chesapeake Bay could potentially impact the whole East Coast from the Carolinas to New England,” said Anderson. “While it\u2019s not uncommon for non-native oysters to be introduced elsewhere \u2013 the oyster industry in France and on the U.S. West Coast is primarily based on non-native oysters \u2013 every reintroduction poses a considerable risk.”
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\n\tIn addition to choosing one of the proposed options, Anderson\u2019s committee strongly recommended that any introduction of non-native species follow the appropriate international protocol, which includes quarantining the oysters to test for pathogens. The group also concluded that the current regulatory framework is inadequate to address multi-state species introductions like the one proposed.
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\n\t“If Virginia says it wants to introduce the oysters and Maryland says it doesn\u2019t, the oysters from Virginia are eventually going to end up in the waters of both states because they don\u2019t care about political boundaries. And the federal government doesn\u2019t have well-defined authority to intervene,” he said.
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\n\tAnderson was chosen to co-chair the National Research Council committee because of his expertise in evaluating economic issues in the shellfish and aquaculture industries. He said that 溏心vlog免费B站 faculty from the Department of Environmental and Natural Resource Economics in the College of the Environment and Life Sciences are often called upon by the Council to join such committees because of their expertise in marine studies.
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\nFor Further Information: James Anderson 874-4568\n\t<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Media Contact: Todd McLeish 874-7892 Co-chair of national committee advises government, industry KINGSTON, R.I. — September 29, 2003 — At a time when exotic species are being blamed for significant population declines of native species around the world, some government officials and the oyster industry in the Chesapeake Bay area are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-69528","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69528"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69528\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}