State prohibits shellfish harvest in northeast corner of Rehoboth Bay
Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control Secretary David Small has closed most of the northeastern corner of Rehoboth Bay to shellfish harvesting.
A secretary's order issued March 16 closes an area near the City of Rehoboth Wastewater Treatment Plant in light of a theoretical wastewaster discharge dilution assessment from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The closure was not based on changes in water quality, a press release states.
A memo attached to the secretary's order states that winter flow rates at the treatment plant have increased, with the highest recorded maximum flow in the past five years occurring in March 2015. That increase is expected to continue, a report from Shellfish Program staff stated.
A review of the area, which was previously open for conditionally approved seasonal harvests, found that it no longer meets conditions required for safe shellfish harvesting, DNREC officials said.
The Rehoboth Beach Wastewater Treatment Plant, which discharges treated wastewater into the Lewes-Rehoboth Canal and then Rehoboth Bay, came online in 1987. In 2005, DNREC officials established a date of Dec. 31, 2014, for the plant's discharge to be completely removed; that date has been extended as the city works on an ocean outfall option.
“It's not good for the people who use the bay to restrict more areas for shellfish harvesting,” said Chris Bason, Executive Director of the Delaware Center for Inland Bays. “The good news is, and what everybody's been looking forward to for a long time, is Rehoboth getting its discharge out of the canal and out of the bay.”
The closed area will be marked by signs. Michael Bott, DNREC Shellfish Program environmental scientist, said the closure includes “areas north of a line drawn from the tip of White Oak Point in a southeasterly direction to a point identified as being directly west of the south submarine observation tower at Delaware Seashore State Park, and south of the Lewes and Rehoboth Canal mouth, then in an easterly direction to the south submarine observation tower.”
Shellfish harvesting classifications for Delaware waterways can be found at www.dnrec.delaware.gov.
