# The SBHonline Community Daily > Restaurants Wine & Food Off The Island >  >  More New Jersey Oysters

## andynap

The Cape May Salts are excellent and I would welcome more from the Garden State




N.J. report sees great potential in aquaculture

 By Jacqueline L. Urgo

Inquirer Staff Writer

 New Jersey Department of Agriculture 

Baby oysters on a shell. While oysters are making a comeback, clams make up two-thirds of New Jersey's aquaculture sales. 



CAPE MAY - The farming of oysters and clams at the New Jersey Shore, helped by new technologies, has struck deep enough roots for experts and state officials to turn their focus to growing and marketing shellfish aquaculture, including a push to open more coastal waters to the industry.

In a new report, "Opportunities and Potential for Aquaculture in New Jersey," the state Department of Agriculture, usually preoccupied with promoting land-based crops, contends that the $6 million aquaculture shellfish industry - a small part of the $178 million state seafood industry - has the potential to grow much bigger.

The plan, the first of its kind in nearly 20 years, is the work of the agency's Aquaculture Advisory Council.

Among its recommendations: tax incentives to increase private investment in the industry and loosening regulations to open up more underwater areas in the Delaware and Barnegat Bays and along the Atlantic coast for cultivating shellfish.

New Jersey Secretary of Agriculture Douglas H. Fisher calls it a "road map" for further development of this niche of the fishing industry, which already has a strong hold on the marketplace.

"We already have the 'Jersey Seafood' logo in place to market local seafood, and New Jersey has the consumers who support local product," Fisher said in a statement. "The strategies spelled out in the plan will help our state's producers tap into those resources."

There are only two fin-fish-focused aquaculture businesses in New Jersey - a farm in Salem County that raises ornamental koi and a trout farm in Warren County, according to Joe Myers, an aquaculture-development specialist at the Agriculture Department.

Most of the state's nearly 100 aquaculture enterprises instead focus on shellfish, including the propagation and harvesting of clams and oysters in controlled or selected environments, Myers said.

Clams - "hard clams," as they are termed in state paperwork - account for two-thirds of the total aquaculture sales in New Jersey. The state is fifth in the harvest of such clams, behind Virginia, Florida, Connecticut, and Massachusetts.

Myers contends that a stable clam industry and the resurgence of aquaculture oysters over the last decade led by new farming methods - the industry had languished after being nearly destroyed in the 1950s by the MSX and Dermo viruses and pollution - have set the stage for policy changes to boost the industry further.

Among the advances is the creation of a strain of oysters resistant to the virus attacks.

Shellfish farmers also have had success along the mudflats of Cape May County in growing oysters in experimental, raised platforms.

The project, a joint venture of Rutgers University's New Jersey Aquaculture Innovation Center in Cape May and the private company Atlantic Cape Fisheries, is farming about three acres of oysters.

The fishery has trademarked and marketed its oysters under the appellation "Cape May Salts," and they have become popular at raw bars and restaurants even outside New Jersey, Myers said.

Officials say that success points to an untapped potential for growth. And they contend that opening up even more of the state's waters for fishing leases - perhaps 40 or 50 more acres around Cape May alone - could further that growth.

Myers said existing grounds also should be better managed. 

A small number of leases is offered by the state annually to commercial fishermen lottery-style. Once a lease is obtained, however, it can be transferred within a family and passed down from one generation to the next, Myers said.

The cost of holding such leases - as little as $1 an acre per year along the Delaware Bay and $5 an acre per year along the Atlantic coast - often allows leaseholders to retain the leases "like family heirlooms," said Myers, without bothering to actually farm the fishing grounds.

"We do need more areas opened up and the regulations looked at that would make it easier to open up those areas," said Dale Parsons Sr., of Parsons Seafood in Tuckerton, a second-generation Barnegat Bay clammer, whose son is also a fisherman.

Parsons said that while oysters seem to be making a comeback in the Garden State, he is still more interested in clams.

"Oysters are still pretty touchy here, though," Parsons said, referring to the work it takes to cultivate the creatures. "And for every thousand clams I sell, I sell 10 oysters, so I'm still pretty focused on clams at this point."

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## MIke R

I dont trust their water.....

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## JEK

Cape and North only. iMHO.

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## andynap

I would tend to agree as to the South. Cape May is pretty clean. The north would be the ocean and you have New York et al.

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## JEK

Cape Cod, not Cape May.

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## andynap

LOL- the article is about NJ.

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## cassidain

> I dont trust their water.....



Last time I opined something about the quality of the water there, I was told to f#*@ off. You and JEK are obviously PCs.

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## MIke R

> Originally Posted by Mike R
> 
> I dont trust their water.....
> 
> 
> 
> Last time I opined something about the quality of the water there, I was told to f#*@ off. You and JEK are obviously PCs.



well you know what they say....many oysters are invited..few are chosen

but I digress

considering I *left* the state of New Jersey 36 years ago because of the filthy state of their air and water which was having a dramatic effect on my commercial fishing work, not to mention their overpopulation.....I find it very hard to believe I would in any way ever defend the water purity issues there....I  grew up commercial fishing there..its where I learned my trade...I watched the water firsthand become a cesspool.....I get that its getting better...but in my view it still has a ways to go.....where I work now, if I drop my  filet knife in the water at the dock, where the water is about 8-10f feet deep....I can see the knife on the bottom and easily get it back with a magnet...try that in NJ or NY

consumption of raw shellfish from even an iffy area or an area on the periphery  of a questionable area to me is just playing Russian Roulette..


your mileage may vary

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## cassidain

T'wasn't you who attacked me.

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## Peter NJ

your mileage is outdated..and nobody will convince you otherwise..so I wont try..but do you really think we can't see our feet when swimming in 6 feet of water? you are completely wrong.

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## MIke R

I am glad to hear that Peter...I really am....when I left there, clams had to sit in a "purification tank" in Highlands by  Bahrs resto for a week before they could even be sold....that was not what I wanted to be  any  part of....and you still have millions upon millions upon millions of people creating waste which isn't being handled properly....my ex wifes family who live(d) in the swankiest part of Holmdel are all dying of cancer from the crap that Lily Cup has put in the ground water which got back into the water table.......National Lead in Perth Amboy leeching that orangey, sometimes purplish water you see from the air into Raritan Bay...,more Lobsters have cancerous lesions  from that area than anywhere else in the country.....

it is what it is...

but I am glad its getting better.....good for you

I made the difficult decision to leave and not look back...good for me

a win win I guess

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## MIke R

> T'wasn't you who attacked me.



oh..my bad....than in the immortal words of Gilda Radnor as she played Emily Latella


*never mind!*

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## andynap

If you weren't so all knowing and strident and lived where I do you might have some credibility here but you know as much about South Jersey as you know about Catholics- nothing. So there you go Emily.   :Big Grin:

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## JEK

> . . . all knowing and strident  . . .



I'm saving this one.

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## MIke R

> If you weren't so all knowing and strident and lived where I do you might have some credibility here but you know as much about South Jersey as you know about Catholics- nothing. So there you go Emily.




LOL....read my lips......cesspool...

do you read National Fisherman????>>>>apparently not...I do..as does every commercial fisherman..its our bible.....they report unbiased water sample results on a regular basis..seeing that its something people who fish for a living want and need to know.....they have no bias either way..they just report the facts..and the facts are...ALL waters from NYC to Norfolk are better for sure...but far far from where they need to be  to support *healthy* undersea life

doubting that I am on top of this subject is like me doubting you are on top of laws...something I would not  be so foolish to do....


and its probably all the catholics fault anyway.... :p  :crazy:

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## andynap

> far from where they need to be to support life




So the fact that I am living makes your bible less than infallible. I don't understand what that means. The fish are living and the South Jersey fisherman provide fresh fish for an awful lot of people who are still living.

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## MIke R

everything you are saying is somewhat correct....

but as I said before..lobsters with lesions mostly come from the NYC/Norfolk corridor.....all clams nationwide now HAVE to be bagged with  a source code tag before they are shipped so an illness can be specifically traced back to its source...and now that the Feds have implemented this new standard...guess where the highest percentage of illnesses trace back to?..come on...take a wild guess....why have all the coastal fish who used to inhabit inshore areas up to 5 miles out completely vacated the area down there, and now live 10+ miles out....ask yourself why?.....why have species of fish such as whiting completely disappeared there, but not anywhere else???..why?


its getting better...no doubt...it might be a case of too little too late but only time will tell

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## Dennis

> ....why have all the coastal fish who used to inhabit inshore areas up to 5 miles out completely vacated the area down there, and now live 10+ miles out....ask yourself why?.....why have species of fish such as whiting completely disappeared there, but not anywhere else???..why?




'cause of these clowns?

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## JEK

Snook-i fish.

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## andynap

Let's see- they catch fish 10 miles out which is what I eat so that's OK. I haven't seen a sickness from clams caught here- I can't remember ever- and there are millions of clams harvested here- so that's OK. Whiting- who the hell eats whiting? The Cape May Salts are recent shellfish additions closely regulated by the NJ agency so that's OK. So what are you talking about?

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## Dennis



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## MIke R

Dennis...thats hysterical..

Andy....fish have moved further out because the waters closer in are not sustainable for life..low O2 levels ..bad PH..etc....thats been my point all along

and you have no way of knowing what percentage of foods get rejected....you also have no way of knowing how much illness has been caused by contaminated shellfish.....of course what you eat is good..it BETTER be...or the problem is even bigger than I think

and whiting used to be consumed by many....but its more the canary in the coal mine in this case

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## Peter NJ

Is Andy sticking up for NJ? Are we all trapped in bizzaro world? LOL

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## MIke R

> Is Andy sticking up for NJ? Are we all trapped in bizzaro world? LOL



I was thinking the same thing a while ago......

actually it was more of "wow..Andy and Peter in the same foxhole!"

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## andynap

> Is Andy sticking up for NJ? Are we all trapped in bizzaro world? LOL




Peter- I am sticking up for SOUTH JERSEY only- my backyard.

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## andynap

BTW- I just read the South Jersey Inshore fishing reports- want to see some??? Apparently fishing inshore is great. I guess the fish never read the National Fisherman.  :P

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## MIke R

yes and I believe _everything_ I read in fishing reports....we never ever ever lie or exaggerate...never ever ever..... }:|  :P 

oh and...ten miles out is the new inshore anyway

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## andynap

It's not 10 miles out and comes with pictures.  :P  :P

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## MIke R

its also the exception and not the rule......

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## andynap

Mike- I want to see that Bible article you cite. There are hundreds of boats from private to charter that go out of Cape May Inlet every day and lay about 1 mile off shore. I did that 10 years ago and never came back without my limit and that was before all the regs went into effect.

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## MIke R

Andy.....let me clarify what I am talking about here....its COMMERCIAL fishing I am talking about, not sport fishing..Natl Fisherman  is a publication for commercial only...commercial and sport are worlds apart...they have nothing in common whatsoever...apples and oranges


example......when I run the CeeJay on a sunset trip.....I need to catch a half dozen to a dozen keeper stripers for it to be considered a good trip where my customers are happy.... 2 hours after I get in, I go back out with my partner on a _commercial_ trip....on that trip we need _at least_ 30 - 40  keeper sized fish ( which has a bigger minimum size than sport ) weighing 800 pounds for it to be considered a successful profitable trip...

worlds apart...and all my comments here are based on commercial fishing...not sport fishing

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## JEK

> ...they have nothing in common whatsoever...apples and oranges




Fish.
Bait.
Hooks.
Line.
Boats.
Fishermen.

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## MIke R

bag limits
minimum sizes
permit costs
pounds allowed
pounds required to be successful
different boats entirely
no passengers allowed
no captains license required


I can keep going

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## andynap

A distinction without a difference. Either there are fish there or not.

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## MIke R

> A distinction without a difference. Either there are fish there or not.



sorry counselor....its not that black and white...never has been...if you have a hundred fish on a spot...that is a bonanza to a sport fishing fleet..a few boats can do well with that....but that is a complete bust for a commercial fleet...not even worth their time and effort

there is simply no comparison...

except not too long ago that same spot had enough fish to support both the sport and commercial industries...

surely you can understand that concept

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## andynap

It's because of overfishing, Captain and nothing you can say will change my mind. There is plenty of proof of that. That's why the size of flounder keepers goes up every year for sport fisherman.

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## MIke R

yep over fishing has been a part of it but regulations have been effect for decades and yet the fish which are reproducing and returning in numbers *still* do not venture back into the inshore areas they inhabited for centuries...and for very good reasons.....Andy the source here is me who has fished commercially for 40 years and my wife who  used  her marine biology degree to study water, water quality and  how water quality effected the essential nutrient necessary for sea life to flourish, i.e. plankton levels in  the water, while at the University of Rhode Island.. and we are both in 100% agreement here FWIW...these topics are  our lives, for me - my living and for Wendi, her primary interest of what she went to school for.... so we follow it very closely and in depth....and we dont agree on much ocean related - but even we agree on this.....

so  consider the source here  and make your own judgements

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## andynap

I already did. End of story.

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## MIke R

well there you have it....  :cool:

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## Dennis

Please do not stop this thread. 

Seriously. 

This is riveting.

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## MIke R

LMAO

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## Hawke

Andynap; quick on his feet. Mike R; Can't land the knock out punch. Tie going into the final round.

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## MIke R

nah...I know he is  wrong but I also know I am not budging him...its fun trying though...I  come from a family of hard headed Sicilians..I'm used to this.... :laugh:  :laugh:

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## andynap

Since I am older, my Sicilian family is older, so based on that alone- I win.

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## JEK

The best moderation is tongue in cheek moderation. iMHO.

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## MIke R

> Since I am older, my Sicilian family is older, so based on that alone- I win.




yeah unfortunately I get that part too....LOL

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## andynap

Omerta

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## MIke R

Omerta veramente

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