VMRC adopts emergency 2025–26 oyster season; approves mechanically assisted hand tongs for clean‑cockle harvest

The Virginia Marine Resources Commission on Sept. 23 adopted emergency regulations to set the 2025–26 public oyster harvest season and approved mechanically assisted hand tongs for the clean‑oyster hand‑tong fishery.

Chief Kenyon told the commission staff had missed a statutory newspaper‑advertising deadline required for a standard public hearing, which blocked a normal notice period. To avoid leaving the oyster season undefined before October and to provide the industry with a regulatory framework, staff recommended an emergency adoption that will be publicly noticed and returned to the commission for formal adoption in October. Emergency regulations expire automatically after 30 days unless the commission subsequently adopts them through the standard process.

The emergency action adopted the Shellfish Management Advisory Committee’s (SMAC) recommended season structure and gear allocations, largely carrying forward last year’s approach with several changes SMAC recommended: maintaining a three‑year rotational harvest in the Rappahannock main stem, a return to a three‑year rotation in the York River and expansion of the patent tong area where patent tongs may operate. SMAC also recommended mechanical assistance for hand tongs used to harvest clean‑oysters; the commission approved a definition allowing a single lifting cable or rope attached to a single point on a tong shaft that powers only the lifting motion (the tong must still be closed by hand).

JC Hudgins of the Virginia Watermen’s Association told commissioners SMAC had unanimously passed the mechanically‑assisted hand‑tong allowance and that it would help older hand tongers continue working and increase participation in the gear type.

VIMS professors Roger Mann and Jim Wesson—members of the Blue Ribbon Oyster Panel subgroup that studied rotational strategies—addressed the commission and urged wider use of rotations where biologically appropriate. They and SMAC highlighted that rotation can increase harvest efficiency and help protect broodstock by leaving parts of the public grounds to recover.

Commissioners voted 5–2 to adopt the emergency season and the mechanically assisted hand‑tong provision; Associate Members White and Erskine voted no. Staff said the emergency action takes effect Oct. 1 and will be followed by a duly noticed public hearing and a formal vote at the October commission meeting.

Staff emphasized the emergency action is intended to protect the seafood industry and to provide certainty to harvesters while preserving the commission’s ability to modify seasons or conservation measures after proper public notice and deliberation.