N.J. searching for shellfish 'bug'

Scores of New Jersey watermen are awaiting the results of laboratory tests - expected as early as today - that will determine whether the state can lift a ban on shellfishing in a 130-square-mile section of the Delaware Bay.

The action by the state Department of Environmental Protection has affected dozens of oyster boats and is costing the industry tens of thousands of dollars a day.

The DEP ordered the suspension of the oyster, clam and mussel harvest Tuesday after the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene reported that two people had fallen ill after eating New Jersey oysters at a Maryland restaurant.

The state officials are now tracking down the source of a bacterium,

Vibro parahaemolyticus

, which has been found in oysters and causes diarrhea, nausea, cramps, headaches and blood infection. The bacterium thrives naturally in warm waters.

The ban covers an area of the bay from Lower Alloways Creek Township in Salem County to Maurice River Cove at Maurice River Township in Cumberland County.

"We sampled oyster tissue [on Tuesday and Wednesday], and the lab results will provide guidance as to whether or not the suspension will be lifted or needs to stay in place," DEP spokeswoman Darlene Yuhas said yesterday.

"The last time we closed the shellfish beds to harvesting for this was in June of 2005. It doesn't happen that frequently," she said.

The ban affects about 80 percent of the oyster beds - about one-third of the Delaware Bay. Shellfish beds south of the affected area remain open.

New Jersey officials said the suspension of shellfishing was unlikely to severely hurt the state's industry, which does at least $3 million of business a year.

But oystermen were eager to return to the affected areas - and wondered whether the bacteria traced to the oysters had developed after the harvest.

"If mishandling happens somewhere in the chain, that can be a problem," said Steve Fleetwood, manager of Bivalve Packing, a Port Norris company that operates 12 oyster boats. "Did the wholesalers where the oysters originated handle any other products from another state?"

His company is harvesting oysters from beds south of the ban area - and has had a boat there since the state action, said Fleetwood, who has been in the oyster industry for more than 20 years.

"I have enough oysters planted there to last me until this whole thing is sorted out," he said. "We have a great product. The oysters have been getting better all the time.

"Barring any positive samples [for bacteria] or other problems, I think it will be open by next week."