The aftermath of Potomac River wastewater spilling into the Chesapeake Bay
MARYLAND. – Maryland Governor Wes Moore, requested federal disaster funding relief for Maryland’s waters after a spill. This incident is impacting watermen and the commercial seafood industry.
This is because of a recent Potomac River interceptor sewage spill incident that involved several million gallons of wastewater spilling into the Potomac, which traveled on into the Chesepeake Bay.
Robert Newberry, the President of the Delmarva Fisheries Association, explains the consensus among many watermen camps around the Eastern Shore. “Ask any watermen, are things better now than they were 3 years ago? What are they going to tell you? Hell no, this is the worst we’ve ever seen it.”
Delegate Wayne Hartman affirms that the Eastern Shore Delegation has kept a close eye on watermen and the regulations that have been imposed.
“The watermen certainly have not been abandoned. I can assure you, we are fighting for them, we are advocating for them, we know they have had a very tough year.”
Governor Moore sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Commerce requesting the funding. It would come by way of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA), as amended, and the Interjurisdictional Fisheries Act (IFA).
Newberry remains pessimistic, for him the money could take a while to surface, and he’s not confident things will get done in a timely fashion.
“I’m not trying to badmouth the Governor on this, but the bottom line is he should have contacted the watermen, the people who make a living there, how does this affect you? What can you do?”
Senator Johnny Mautz spoke to WMDT about the current shape of the commercial industry. He praised Governor Moore’s request for the extra funding – but says not everything in the letter was quote “on point.”
He feels the state isn’t treating watermen like a focal point.
“When people say what industry that you know of, that’s asked to do less and make more. Every year, they take a cut, and take a cut, whether it’s finfish, oysters, crabs – they are constantly being restricted and restricted, and they still manage to survive. It’s an iconic thing, the commercial seafood industry.”
Newberry agrees with Mautz, and told WMDT, that him and his guys are the definition of resilient.
“I mean, we could have harvested this year if there was a good market this year. I know we can’t control that, over a million bushels of oysters, what are we going to harvest, probably less than 200,000 bushels. Even with a limited market, we are over 100,000 bushels.”
Senator Mautz said it’ll come down to cooperation between watermen and government to ultimately fix the problems. “We don’t want to bite the hand that feeds you, so to speak, we are not trying to attack people here, we are just trying to find a solution.”
