MARYLAND – March 22, 2016 –A new group has emerged to speak for the seafood industry in contentious Chesapeake Bay fisheries issues, and it’s already being heard in Maryland on oyster restoration.
The Delmarva Fisheries Association formed last year with the stated intent of bringing together watermen, restaurant owners, packing houses, oyster farmers and boat captains.
Capt. Robert Newberry, the association’s president and founder, used to oyster in the Upper Bay and is now a charter boat captain and a hunting guide. He said he wanted to form a group that would unite the seafood industry.
One of their first priorities, he said, was getting Maryland’s governor to take a closer look at the oyster reef construction project in the Tred Avon, which is part of an effort to restore bivalves in three of the state’s tributaries that will cost tens of millions of dollars. All three have been designated sanctuaries, off-limits to commercial harvesting.