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July 29th 2005 • Printer version When the World is Not Your Oyster
Ocean and Coastal law center director Richard Hildreth commented on the introduction of non-native oysters to the Chesapeake Bay in
a letter published in the journal Science on July 8, 2005.*
The Eastern oyster Crassostrea virginica in Chesapeake Bay is in decline, and efforts to restore populations of this economically and ecologically important species have been unsuccessful. The Chesapeake Bay states of Maryland and Virginia are proposing the introduction of an Asian oyster, Crassostrea ariakensis, into the bay as a means of increasing bay oyster populations. Delaware and New Jersey, which border nearby Delaware Bay, object to this introduction of nonnative species out of concern that reproductively viable populations in the Chesapeake Bay would very likely lead to the spread of C. ariakensis to other bodies of water. Under the current federal regulatory framework, New Jersey and Delaware cannot prevent or alter such an introduction. Federal law could be changed, however, to permit governors of states potentially affected by intentional introductions to appeal to the appropriate federal agency, which could block the introduction and trigger judicial review in the federal courts. With the pending reauthorization of the federal Invasive Species Act, the time may be ripe for discussion of these and similar changes. *J.
Jed Brown, Richard Hildreth, and Susan E. Ford. Letter. "When the World Is Not Your Oyster.Science, July 8, 2005, p. 244.
Richard Hildreth is a professor of law at the University of Oregon and director of its Ocean and
Coastal Law Center.
This
year, Dick Hildreth presented the regulatory aspects of the
recently-released National Academy of Sciences Report on Nonnative
Oysters in the Chesapeake Bay at congressional and media briefings in
Washington DC and Annapolis, Maryland.
As
part of his just-completed sabbatical leave, Hildreth presented
seminars on managing marine resources at the University of Tasmania,
Griffith University in Queensland, and the Australian National
University in Canberra.
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