The 1990 National Shellfish Register 



closures due to insufficient State 

 resources for monitoring (Table 4). 



Although many states do not classify 

 offshore waters, in 1989, NOAA's 

 National Marine Fisheries Service 

 (NMFS) reported nationwide landings 

 of over 1 1 8 million pounds of mollus- 

 can shellfish caught within zero to 

 three miles offshore (NMFS, 1990). 

 Given the pollution discharges such 

 as sewage outfalls, into these waters, 

 more offshore areas are likely to be 

 classified as harvest-limited. 



During the data collection process for 

 the 1985 and 1990 Registers, the 

 reasons an area 



NSSP regulations requiring current 

 and complete sanitary surveys have 

 not been met. Because State officials 

 have promoted increased monitoring 

 activities, the amount of harvest- 

 limited waters has increased nation- 

 ally. Many states have developed 

 conditional management plans for 

 areas with predictable water quality 

 fluctuations. Implementing such plans 

 often requires additional resources at 

 a time when many states are reducing 

 their budgets. As the amount of 

 harvestable area is reduced, industrial 

 and political pressure may force states 

 to re-open harvest areas which 

 require close surveillance. 



was classified as 

 harvest-limited 

 were entered 

 directly on the 

 charts and later 

 analyzed. State 

 personnel were 

 interviewed to 

 determine 



whether classification changes 

 between 1985 and 1989 were directly 

 related to changes in water quality 

 (less than two percent), or were a 

 result of management decisions (over 

 98 percent). Water quality changes 

 were supported by sanitary surveys 

 that identify pollution sources, suc- 

 cessful clean-up efforts, and sampling 

 results. 



Management decisions fall into three 

 major categories: 1 ) those based on 

 increased monitoring; 2) those based 

 on political judgements; and 3) a 

 default position, where areas are 

 classified as prohibited because 



Effects of Pollution 



The effect of a pollution source on shell- 

 fish-growing waters depends on the 

 amount of coliform bacteria discharged, 

 the dilution and dispersion factors, flushing 

 ability related to tides and circulation, size 

 of the growing area, and the presence of 

 other pollution sources. 



Although man- 

 agement capa- 

 bilities vary 

 greatly from 

 state to state, 

 about half are 

 able to survey 

 and sample most 

 areas with 

 harvest potential while the rest leave 

 at least some productive waters 

 closed because of inadequate man- 

 agement resources. Several states 

 survey and sample an area only if 

 there are active leases or after a lease 

 application is received. 



Pollution Sources Affecting Har- 

 vest. Pollution sources affecting an 

 area were identified primarily through 

 sanitary surveys conducted by State 

 agencies. Only sources that signifi- 

 cantly affect the classification of 

 shellfish-growing areas were identi- 

 fied. A pollution source may be 

 identified in a sanitary survey despite 



