| Shores and Ruark Seafood Rufus H. Ruark Site Description: The growout locations are on the south shore of the Rappahannock River on lease numbers 10240 and 7514. Both sites are close to the oyster plant, which will serve as the emergency management site. The growout location on lease 10240 is generally hard sand in water depths of 2 - 4 feet mlw. The bottom is more shelly on lease 7514 in depths of 6 to 9 feet at mlw. Both sites have wind exposure from the north and east. Growout Method: Oysters will be grown in bags on the bottom and attached to a longline. The longline is stainless steel and the bags will be attached with stainless steel longline clips. Both ends of each longline will be attached to anchors. Longlines will be 300 to 500' long and bags will be spaced approximately 5 feet apart. Final growout densities in the bags will be 100-150 oysters per bag. Longlines will be checked at frequent intervals initially to determine if the bags will sink into the bottom. During the winter, ice should not have an impact on the longlines. Emergency Management Plan: Both growout sites have exposures to north and east winds. The deeper water at site 7514 should limit the wind damage. Oyster lines will be picked up and moved to the crab shedding floats from lease 10240 for any hurricane warning. Bags will be picked up from lease 7514 only during a hurricane warning for Category 3 and higher. All lines will be checked for sanding and damage following any significant wind event. Ice should have no impact on this method at this site. Rufus Ruark will train the employees in handling the oyster aquaculture system and will be responsible for implementing the Emergency Management Plan. Emergency Contract Information: Rufus Ruark 804-758-5640. |
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