A group representing Virginia’s seafood harvesters is looking to recruit a dozen similar organizations to potentially sue Virginia or the federal government for failing to halt the Chesapeake Bay’s environmental degradation, the group’s president said Thursday.
The Virginia Watermen’s Association has not decided whether to mount the lawsuit over the pollution that has dwindled harvests — and hurt their livelihoods — and members won’t decide for a few weeks while they try to bring together 12 other Virginia watermen groups, said President Dale Taylor, whose group discussed the issue at a meeting Wednesday night.
But support for such a suit has grown recently, with U.S. Rep. Robert Wittman, R-Va., and state Del. Albert Pollard, D-Lancaster, both backing the proposal. Watermen blame the government for inaction on the Bay’s declining health.
“They talk about it and talk about it, and not getting anything done at all,” Taylor said.
The Bay has been plagued by numerous environmental woes, including a long “dead zone” that doesn’t hold enough oxygen to support life, and officials say cleanup efforts have not progressed at a pace necessary to meet a 2010 deadline.
Watermen and environmentalists often spar over the extent to which overfishing contributes to the decline in the crab and oyster harvests, but both appear to agree that environmental degradation plays a major role.
“We have to not only improve water quality, but we have to reduce harvest pressure to protect the crab population,” said Chuck Epes, spokesman for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, who said the organization sympathizes with the watermen’s concerns.
Watermen in Maryland explored such a lawsuit based on the government not doing a “damn thing about the problem,” but ultimately decided against it, said Larry Simns, president of the Maryland Watermen’s Association. He said the group “supports anybody that tries to do something about cleaning the Bay up.”
“I wish them luck, but it’s a big battle, what they’re trying to do,” he said. “You can’t sue governments.”
