Shellfish

High temperatures and pollution have made conditions ripe for potentially dangerous bacteria carried in Chesapeake Bay waters, leading state and local health officials to warn swimmers, fishermen and shellfish eaters to take precautions. The naturally occurring bacteria, vibrio, can cause gastrointestinal illness as well as nasty skin infections — and sometimes can kill. So far this year, 24 Maryland cases of vibrio have been recorded, close to the average annual count of 30, but the season is far from over and officials say many cases likely go unreported.

First in a three-part series on crabs. For Marylanders, crabs are more than a menu item. They're a way of life. Generations of Marylanders have relied on blue crabs, culled from the Chesapeake Bay, as sustenance and - in the case of watermen - for their livelihoods. Today, crabs are as much a social treat as they are a source of protein. The crab feast involves crabs, beer and lots of paper towels, and is a messy Maryland rite of passage. "Crabs are a Maryland tradition.

First in a three-part series on crabs. For Marylanders, crabs are more than a menu item. They're a way of life. Generations of Marylanders have relied on blue crabs, culled from the Chesapeake Bay, as sustenance and - in the case of watermen - for their livelihoods. Today, crabs are as much a social treat as they are a source of protein. The crab feast involves crabs, beer and lots of paper towels, and is a messy Maryland rite of passage. "Crabs are a Maryland tradition.

A political truism in Maryland is that everyone is in favor of cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay. Anyone who has lived in the Free State for more than a few years has at least a passing familiarity with stories of the Chesapeake's seemingly limitless bounty in years gone by. Rockfish, crabs, oysters, shad, clams, perch and even sturgeon and diamondback terrapins from the bay provided fine table fare to the cities surrounding the waterway and well...

A Johns Hopkins study released yesterday has concluded that Asian oysters being considered for introduction into the Chesapeake Bay could pose a health threat because the shellfish are more likely to harbor pathogens that cause intestinal illness. "These oysters may present a public health threat upon entering the human food chain, if harvested from polluted water," Thaddeus Graczyk, an associate professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, wrote in an article published in a scientific journal.

No one dares dispute that the crab is a Chesapeake Bay symbol and that Baltimoreans salivate at the mention of its succulent taste, but another, far less storied shellfish has found a comfortable harbor in the local gastronomy.The evidence isn't irrefutable, but a number of local seafood authorities say that when Baltimoreans vote with their mouths, shrimp wins over the storied crab. And a tour of Maryland seafood cookbooks dating from the 1930s shows steady inroads by shrimp over the years.

RIDGE - Some folks are ready to write off the Chesapeake Bay's once-fabled oyster, but not Richard Pelz. At his Circle C Oyster Ranch on a postcard-pretty cove in St. Mary's County, the stout, bearded one-time farmer from Ohio has tens of thousands of the bay's beleaguered shellfish corralled in white floating rafts tethered to his dock. A hand-lettered sign offers them for $6 a dozen. Fighting through a thicket of regulatory red tape, Pelz says, he has figured out how to beat the diseases that have nearly wiped out the bay's wild oysters, revive Maryland's moribund oyster industry and clean up the bay in the process - if only the government will let him. "If they turned us loose, I think we could clean up the bay in 10 years," he asserts.

So Walter Scheib, the new White House chef, who is said to be interested in promoting the freshest ingredients raised as close to the kitchen as possible, serves his first state dinner, for the emperor and empress of Japan, and there, 45 minutes from the Chesapeake Bay, he serves shellfish (lobster and scallops) from New England and finfish (char) from Iceland?

1994 Kurt Darting Durkheimer Nonnengarten Riesling Kabinett ($10/liter) This crisp, classy wine from the Pfalz region is not for Blue Nun drinkers. It's quite dry, with attractive mineral and pear flavors and vibrant acidity in the finish. This gutsy wine finishes with a certain fiery character that's attractive in a riesling. Try it with shellfish or ham.

Oysters, like other shellfish, feed by passing large quantities of water through their digestive systems. So if they live in contaminated water, they can pick up bacteria and viruses.Cooking the shellfish kills these, which is why many people eat only cooked oysters.If you like to eat oysters raw, you should know these things about protecting yourself:* Seek certification. Buy only oysters that carry certification. Certified oysters have labels on their shipping containers that tell, bay by bay, which body of water they came from and who shipped them.

Efforts to restore native oysters in Maryland's portion of the Chesapeake Bay are about to begin in earnest, as state and federal officials air plans to conduct large-scale reef rebuilding projects in Harris Creek on the Eastern Shore. The Maryland Department of Natural Resources , along with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the US. Army Corps of Engineers , are scheduled to present their plans for oyster restoration work in Harris Creek from 1 to 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum inSt.

Parts of three waterways have been opened to shellfish harvesting after tests showed declines in bacteria there, the Maryland Department of the Environment announced Monday. An area of the Wicomico River on the Eastern Shore, at the border between Wicomico and Somerset counties, is now approved for commercial harvests. Waters below Bay Point had been closed because of high bacteria levels in the water. The headwaters of Broad Creek in Talbot County have been conditionally approved, meaning that oysters and clams can be harvested there except after a heavy rainfall.

A major new study bolsters the view that food allergies are among the nation's most common medical conditions, and researchers at the Johns Hopkins University and elsewhere believe the problem is growing. The newly released study, perhaps the largest study of food allergies, showed that about 7.5 million people, or almost three in 100 people in the U.S., have a potentially life-threatening allergy to peanuts, dairy, eggs or shellfish. Children, as well as men and African-Americans, have higher rates.

High temperatures and pollution have made conditions ripe for potentially dangerous bacteria carried in Chesapeake Bay waters, leading state and local health officials to warn swimmers, fishermen and shellfish eaters to take precautions. The naturally occurring bacteria, vibrio, can cause gastrointestinal illness as well as nasty skin infections — and sometimes can kill. So far this year, 24 Maryland cases of vibrio have been recorded, close to the average annual count of 30, but the season is far from over and officials say many cases likely go unreported.

Governor O'Malley's oyster management and aquaculture development plan seeks to enhance both the economic and environmental benefits of oysters. Broad new sanctuaries are being created to protect survivors and manage diseases that have harmed the resource, while at the same time the public fishery will be supported through new public shellfish fishery areas. The lease laws that passed the General Assembly unanimously in 2009 provided the first positive change for our oyster in over 100 years.

Vowing to restore the Chesapeake Bay's disease-ravaged oysters and the industry that once thrived on them, Gov. Martin O'Malley announced Friday that he would proceed with a plan to more than double the state's network of oyster sanctuaries while offering to lease vast areas of the bay for private aquaculture. Speaking to a crowd of state officials, environmentalists and others at the Annapolis Maritime Museum — site of the last oyster packing house to close in the capital — O'Malley called the regulations he plans to propose next week "the turning point" in the long, troubled history of the bay's iconic bivalve and of the state's seafood industry.

Thanks to overnight shipping and giant all-purpose grocery stores, consumers can purchase just about any type of fresh or fresh-frozen fish and seafood.But the variety of fish and seafood stocked at some of these fish counters can make selecting something for dinner a bit overwhelming.Most seafood purveyors sell the top 10 types of fish and seafoodyear-round and carry other types according to the seasonal and regional preferences. Among the top-selling types of seafood are shrimp, cod, salmon, catfish, flounder or sole, scallops and crab.

Eastern Shore watermen got more bad news about water quality yesterday, as high bacteria levels forced state officials to expand an area of Pocomoke Sound that is off limits to the harvesting of oysters and clams.The restriction, effective Sept. 1, closely follows the state's unrelated six-day closure of the lower Pocomoke River this month, when thousands of fish were killed, in part, because of a microorganism called Pfiesteria piscicida in the water.In yesterday's action, the Department of the Environment ordered a halt to shellfish harvesting in the Pocomoke Sound after routine water sampling showed unsafe levels of fecal coliform -- contamination that state officials blamed on wildlife and other natural sources.

In recent years, Maryland watermen have harvested clams and oysters from Atlantic coastal bays averaging slightly more than $350,000 in total dockside value. This year, entrepreneurs from the neighboring Virginia Eastern Shore will bring in about $30 million. That's a lot of clams. The difference is one state has a robust aquaculture industry and the other does not. Virginia's hard-shell clams are born in a hatchery and tended to in beds leased from the state until they grow large enough to market.