Oyster war to cooperative conservation

Crassostrea virginica, the Eastern oyster fishing season ends on March 31st. This season, because the oyster stock has been depleted by overfishing, pollution and diseases, the Maryland Natural Resources Police have been busy patrolling waters and suspending fishing licenses with a new urgency.

This morning the Washington post article, "As oyster war heats up, Maryland cracks down on poachers," begins;

CHESTERTOWN, MD. -- The first time there was a war over the Chesapeake Bay's oysters -- in the 1800s -- it started because there were so many of the shellfish. For a share of the fortune on the bay's floor, watermen fought police and one another with rifles and cannons.

This year's oyster war is being fought with cellphones, glow sticks, fast boats and night-vision technology, but for the opposite reason.

I wish there was the same kind of urgency to use cooperative conservation to increase the stock as there is to battle over the last remanning few.

Check out this community-based effort to reestablishing Washington states only native oyster.