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DEP has until Aug. 2 to meet FDA's public health standards for oversight of seafood program

BY JOE TYRRELL

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

New Jersey has two weeks to improve public health standards in its shellfishing industry or face a possible commercial ban.

The situation has been years in the making, as the federal Food and Drug Administration has regularly given failing grades to New Jersey's oversight of the industry, according to state and federal officials.

In June, the FDA gave the state until Aug. 2 to "bring the seafood program back into compliance," according to agency spokesman Michael Herndon. New Jersey faces "a potential problem... meeting patrol frequency requirements."

Simply put, the state Department of Environmental Protection has not had enough boats or people checking the conditions in which oysters are being raised and harvested in state waters.

In 2009, the FDA found the state infrequently inspects shellfish processing plants and wholesalers; does little to restrict shellfishing in closed waters, and takes 30 percent fewer water samples since one employee's retirement.

"We've been out of compliance for a number of years," said DEP spokesman Lawrence Ragonese, "and the FDA finally said, 'That's enough.'"

The result has been a case of all hands into the boats.

"We've been trying to cobble together a patrol force," Ragonese said. "We've done it without additional costs, by borrowing boats from the State Police, reassigning conservation officers."

While that drama was playing out behind the scenes, the DEP engaged in a public spat with an environmental group that maintains research oyster beds in order to determine how polluted the waters are.

Last week, in a period that also included a public appearance to promote the state's seafood industry, DEP Commissioner Bob Martin gave the New York-New Jersey Baykeeper 24 hours to remove its research beds from contaminated Keyport Harbor.

"We have an obligation to safeguard the public health," Martin said at the time. "It's a necessity that the Baykeeper stop operating in contaminated waters."

The FDA had nothing to do with Martin's order to the Baykeeper or other research beds, according to Herndon.

"This is a state decision alone... in consideration of limited patrol resources," he said.

Even with the requisitioned boats and reassigned officers, the DEP does not have enough resources to patrol commercial shellfishing areas and a number of research beds operated by the Baykeeper and other non-profit and academic groups, Ragonese said.

As in the oil-stricken Gulf of Mexico, New Jersey's commercial shellfishing is done by "a lot of small businesses, people with boats, baitshops," he said. With the FDA apparently becoming serious about health standards, the state needed to focus on preserving those jobs, he said.

"We have nothing but respect the Baykeeper and the other non-profits," he said. "When you get to the pecking order, they're not at the top, and unfortunately they're the first ones to suffer" by being dropped from the inspection program.

Responding to Martin last week, Debbie Mans, the baykeeper and the program's executive director, said she will comply with the order but called it "disheartening" and "vicious."

In a preview of the FDA directive, which had not yet been made public, Mans called the DEP approach a smokescreen.

"NJDEP is using our small research program to hide the larger problem --- that NJDEP has for years been underfunding and understaffing its shellfish patrol program statewide," she said.

Ragonese said all the players learned of the situation following the June letter from an FDA regional director. Martin and top DEP officials have been holding meetings weekly to try to develop a plan, he said.

"We'd like to work with the Baykeeper," he said, holding out hope that it might be possible to relocate some research beds to patrol areas rather than eliminate them.

If there is any good news, it is that "there have been no incidents" reported from tainted shellfish, Ragonese said.

Some think that might be a matter more of being lucky than good. In a statement, Bill Wolfe of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility cited a 2009 FDA

report of a gastrointestinal illness possibly linked to shellfish.

"Failure to prevent dumping of human wastes onto shellfish beds denotes a deep disconnect in our state's environmental leadership," he said.

Joe Tyrrell may be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it