Certain areas of water are closed to 

 shellfishing temporarily when the potential 

 for pollution is great, as when a certain 

 amount of rain falls within 24 hours. 



"If water doesn't meet the standards 

 for its intended use," Corridore says, "it 

 violates the Clean Water Act," a 1 977 

 amendment to the Federal Water Pollution 

 Control Act of 1 972. Because the Newport 

 River was once a productive shellfishing 

 area, being closed to shellfishing means it 

 is not meeting clean water standards. 



Mike Marshall, central district 

 manager of the N.C. Division of Marine 

 Fisheries (DMF), says that closures generally 

 have followed coastal development. 



"The most recent fairly large-scale 

 closures have been around the Pamlico 

 Sound. More closures have been in the 

 southern areas in the past," he says. 



Development decreases the perme- 

 able land surfaces that absorb and filter 

 rainwater. Without such filtering, runoff 

 from storms carries microorganisms from 

 human and animal waste — collectively 

 known as fecal coliform bacteria — into 

 waterways. These bacteria and certain 

 viruses are associated with illnesses like 

 typhoid, cholera, gastroenteritis, salmonella 

 and hepatitis A, according to Corridore. 



Shellfish closures, therefore, are 

 environmental actions intended to protect 

 public health. But Corridore sees social 

 implications as well. 



"Environmental issues aren't affecting 

 just the environment itself, but people," she 

 says. "The human component gets 

 ignored." 



As part of her FRG project, Corridore 

 used a survey and personal interviews to 

 discover how shellfish closures affect 

 people who work on the water. FRG, 

 which provides funding for research 

 carried out by those involved in coastal or 

 seafood-related industries, also funds 

 projects such as Corridore's that include 

 significant participation from the fishing 

 community. 



For Corridore, the project was more 

 than an academic exercise. Unsatisfied 

 with a superficial understanding, she went 

 out with shellfisher Charlie Antwine to 

 experience tonging for oysters herself. "It 

 was hard work," she says emphatically. 



THE ISSUES 



The men around Raymond Graham's 

 picnic table are as likely to talk about 

 temporary shellfish openings as closures. So 

 common are closures, Graham says, that 

 shellfishing is no longer a dependable way 

 to make a living. 



"Most people working here now are 

 retired," he says. "Anybody with a family 

 can't make a living out there. They have to 

 do something besides shellfishing." 



In addition to limited accessibility to 

 shellfish waters, shellfishers have seen a 

 dramatic decline in oyster populations. 

 Parasitic diseases like Dermo, which becam 

 a problem in the late 1 980s, and MSX have 

 contributed to this decline. And then there 

 were detrimental effects from hurricanes in 

 recent years. 



As Graham puts it, "Hell, we've been 

 hit by everything but leprosy." 



Antwine, who shellfishes part time, is 

 retired from the N.C. Department of 

 Transportation. He sees pollution as 

 a major problem but questions the 

 standards used to determine 

 closures. "We can sell oysters from 

 Mississippi, but ours can't be 

 bought. We don't want to make 

 people sick. We want to provide a 

 product people will eat," he says. 



Graham's son, Raymond Jr., 

 agrees. He also shellfishes only part 

 time. In addition to bacterial 

 pollution, he blames household 

 chemicals like chlorine and 

 discharges from nearby municipali- 

 ties for problems with shellfishing. 

 "Twenty-five years ago, we didn't 

 have the chemicals like we do 

 today," he says. 



Cam McNutt of the N.C. 

 Division of Water Quality in Raleigh 

 says that point sources such as municipal 

 discharges are actually becoming "less and 

 less of a problem." 



"We removed a discharge source out 

 of the New River from Jacksonville and 

 Camp Lejeune in 1 998, consolidating its 

 discharges into one high-quality treatment 

 facility" he says. "The water quality there has 

 recovered substantially since then." 



However, he says, "Stormwater runoff 

 is becoming more and more of a problem. 



TOP: Charlie Antwine tongs for oysters in Core 

 Creek. BOTTOM: Many oysters served in 

 restaurants and at seafood festivals in North 

 Carolina are now from out-of-state. 



It's not one thing that causes water quality 

 problems. It's usually multiple things." 



"Standards for SA (shellfishing) waters 

 are some of the most stringent of all 

 classifications," says McNutt. Water for 

 swimming, for example, can have bacterial 

 counts of 200 colonies per 1 00 ml of water. 

 For shellfishing, the limit is 14 colonies. The 

 reason for the higher standards, he explains 

 is that shellfish concentrate the bacteria. 



18 SPRING 2002 



