Document Type
Report
Department/Program
Virginia Institute of Marine Science
Publication Date
1997
Abstract
The James River, Virginia has served as the focal point for the Virginia oyster ( Crassostrea virginica) industry for over a century, being the source of the majority of seed oysters that were transplanted for grow-out to locations within the Virginia portion of the Chesapeake Bay and much further afield in the Middle Atlantic states. It has been the site of continuing investigations of oyster distribution in relation to bottom type (Baylor 1894, Moore 1911, Loosanoff 1931, Marshall 1954, Haven at al. 1981a, Andrews 1982, Haven and Whitcomb 1983, Mann and Wesson unpublished data), spawning activity (Cox and Mann 1992, Mann et al 1994), larval biology and settlement (Loosanoff 1931, Andrews 1951, 1954, Wood and Hargis 1971, Andrews 1979, Haven and Fritz 1985, Andrews 1983, Mann 1988), larval dispersal in relation to circu1ation (Pritchard 1953, Ruz.ecld and Moncure 1968, Ruz.ecki and Hargis 1988), disease impact (Andrews 1954, 1962, 1968, Burreson and Ragone Calvo 1996) and a series of unpublished qualitative annual surveys of oyster resources by location (Virginia Institute of Marine Science Library Archive). Given the ecological importance (see Mann etal. 1991) and commercial value (see Haven et al. 1981 b) of oysters originating from the James River it is surprising that comparatively little effort has been devoted to quantitative examination of the relationships between environmental fluctuations (temperature and salinity), dominant aspects of oyster biology (gains associated with growth, spawning and recruitment versus losses to predation and disease), and the comparative impact of fishing mortality in this location. (...)
Keywords
Oysters -- Virginia -- James River, Oyster fisheries -- Virginia -- James Riv
Recommended Citation
Mann, R. L., Burreson, E., Evans, D., & Weiss, D. (1997) Final report for the project entitled A stock recruit model of the James River oyster fishery. Virginia Institute of Marine Science, William & Mary. https://scholarworks.wm.edu/reports/2677
