Sensible shellfish testing
Often the simplest solution is the best. This appears to be the case with trying to find a better way to provide convenient laboratory testing of shellfish harvested from local waters.
In 2014, the Bureau of Aquaculture reassigned the courier who had been transporting water and meat samples from eastern Connecticut to the bureau’s testing laboratory in Milford. Since then, local shellfishermen have had to cobble together their own transportation services, sometimes using those serving on local shellfish commissions, in other instances shellfishermen themselves.
That’s an unfair burden and could discourage an industry that the state should be promoting.
Since then, local lawmakers have pushed for legislation that would sanction the use of a local laboratory to assure the shellfish are free from contamination. The University of Connecticut’s Avery Point campus in Groton, with its existing laboratories and marine-focused programs, seemed a logical possibility.
However, the Department of Agriculture, which has the responsibility to make sure the shellfish is safe, has poked holes in that plan. It determined that the Avery Point campus laboratory was at capacity and would need to construct a new facility to test shellfish. Locating a laboratory elsewhere, or paying a private laboratory for such services, would also be costly, the department concluded.
Department of Agricultural Commissioner Steve K. Reviczky cited his department’s report when testifying during a recent Environment Committee hearing. He placed the startup cost of a new shellfish lab east of the Connecticut River at about $835,000, with annual costs of $262,000.
Meanwhile the Milford facility has the capacity and staffing to handle the testing. The problem is getting the water and shellfish meat there. Providing a courier from this area to the Milford facility would cost about $16,000 annually. That sure sounds like the better option. The Department of Agriculture report suggests that the towns of East Lyme, Waterford, Groton and Stonington could slightly raise their commercial and recreational permit fees to cover the cost of a courier. Better yet, perhaps they could pool their resources to find the money without such an increase. Spread over four towns, $16,000 is not much money.
In its editorials, this newspaper has repeatedly advocated for regional cooperation to improve efficiency. Figuring out how towns can work together to provide a courier for shellfish samples is more efficient than outfitting and running or contracting services from a new laboratory.