Two of the Virginia's largest oyster operations, Bevans Oyster Co. and Cowart Seafood Corp., have joined to launch farming experiments in waters off the Potomac River.
"We gotta try something, right?" said Lake Cowart Jr., whose business overlooks the Coan River on Virginia's northern neck peninsula. "It's either that or we sell all this waterfront land for condos or something."
The goal of the tests: Find a cost-effective way to grow Chesapeake Bay oysters fast enough so they reach market size before the diseases MSX and Dermo kill them.
