Sixteen years after Jacksonville's last shellfish beds closed, the city Waterways Commission is wondering whether they can reopen.

But there could be a long wait for the first oyster roast.

A state agency that controls shellfish harvesting says it can't spare money or people to check whether water around Fort George Island and the Talbot Islands is clean enough.

"Our budget gets cut every year," said Alan Peirce, the chief of an aquaculture bureau in Florida's agriculture department.

"We're in a contracting mode, not an expanding mode. We certainly don't have the resources."

Waterways are supposed to be nearly bacteria-free to be suitable for raising oysters.

The oyster beds were closed temporarily in 1994 because a barge accident destroyed equipment used for water monitoring. That became a permanent closure two years later, after the state and city both failed to replace the damaged equipment.

No one has figured out the cost of reopening the beds or tracking their health after that.

Peirce said at least two years' worth of records about water quality would probably be needed just to develop a plan for managing the oyster beds.

Opening the beds probably wouldn't add much money to the local fishing industry, because the last harvests on record were worth less than $80,000 a year. That also makes the idea a lower priority for agriculture officials.

The yearly costs for water tests would probably be more than the oysters were worth, said Dana

Morton, a city biologist, although he does not have any hard figures on the costs.

But harvesting oysters is a local tradition, and having working beds in an area where the city is promoting environmental tourism sends a good message to visitors.

Finding funding

There could be practical benefits too, said Scott Shine, a commission member.

He said oyster reefs near Huguenot Memorial Park have grown over the years to a point that they can be hazards to surfers there.

An environmental fund where the city keeps money it collects by fining polluters might be able to cover some costs, Shine suggested. But doing that would need agreement from the city's Environmental Protection Board, another appointed panel that controls the fund, said Vince Seibold, chief of the city's Environmental Quality Division.

The protection board hasn't been asked about the oyster research yet. Trust fund money has paid for other studies, and checking water quality seems in line with the board's work, said Robert Schuster, a board member. But he said city ordinances don't allow using the fund to pay for ongoing programs, like monitoring the water after oyster beds reopened.

Because the oyster beds run through the Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve, the answer might be splitting the costs and work between a cluster of state, federal and agencies operating there, Morton said.

"These are hard times on the state. ...," Morton said. "If we want to do something, we're going to have to either show them the money or show them a real effort."

steve.patterson@jacksonvillle.com, (904) 359-4263

link: http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2010-11-11/story/panel-looks-reo...