News Notes

     Draft EPA Effluent Limit Guidelines: The Effluent Limitations Guidelines and New Source Performance Standards for the Concentrated Aquatic Animal Production Point Source Category Proposed Rule was published in the September 12th Federal Register. To view the guidelines, go to http://www.epa.gov/waterscience/guide/aquaculture/aquaFRN.html.

     Clam farming, an increasingly popular and lucrative business in coastal Virginia, is facing a new threat from a mysterious disease known as QPX. The disease spread to 10 seaside farms along Virginia's Eastern Shore, with the potential to kill 90 percent of the hard clams it infected.
     The Virginia Marine Resource Commission voted unanimously to ban the importation of seed clams from South Carolina and Florida for at least the next 180 days. Such Southern seed is commonly planted on private beds on the bottom of Virginia's many inland bays along the Atlantic Ocean. A more recent vote has scaled back the restriction allowing the importation of Northern broodstock clams from Southern hatcheries provided there is a definitive paper trail certifying that the clams, indeed, are from broodstock originating north of Virginia. The amendment was ratified at the Commission's November 26th meeting.
     -- Source: Knight Ridder/Tribune

     The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) has adopted measures to address the problem of illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing for tunas and swordfish in the Atlantic Ocean. ICCAT also extended Phase I of it's rebuilding plan for white marlin and blue marlin through 2005.
     However, the international Atlantic fishery management commission failed to reduce quotas for overfished eastern Atlantic bluefin tuna or to protect juvenile swordfish by limiting quota increases, two key issues pressed by the U.S. delegation. U.S. Delegates expressed disappointment at the overall outcome of the ICCAT meeting, although several positive measures were adopted.
     -- To view the full release, go to http://www.publicaffairs.noaa.gov/releases2002/nov02/noaa02148.html, or contact Gordon Helm by phone at 301-713-2370, or by e-mail at Gordon.J.Helm@noaa.gov.

     Drought-induced diseases are expected to make this season's Chesapeake Bay oyster harvest the worst in history. The estuary may produce no more than 100,000 bushels of the shellfish that once factored to highly in the bay's culture, economy and lore.
     Near-record drought in the past two years has reduced freshwater flow into the bay, allowing saltwater parasites to extend their reach beyond Virginia, moving into Maryland waters that had been relatively parasite-free.
     -- Source: Richmond Times-Dispatch