Virginia has announced yet another plan to restore oysters, and predictably, no one seems thrilled with it. Here's the Virginian-Pilot's Scott harper with details:

The plan calls on Gov. Timothy M. Kaine and Virginia lawmakers to appropriate $2.5 million next year for native oyster projects, up from $1.2 million this year.

Among its innovations, the plan urges a "rotating system" of oyster sanctuaries and harvest zones.

The first one, in the lower Rappahannock River, would allow watermen to gather oysters in previously closed areas. At the same time, these commercial fishermen would be paid to keep large adult oysters, which likely are resistant to diseases, and transport them to sanctuaries so they can keep spawning what officials hope is a genetically tougher species.

If fruitful, the state might try the same system in tributaries of the Potomac River, in Pocomoke and Tangier sounds, and in the lower James River, said Jack Travelstead, state director of fisheries.

Travelstead also described how the state should encourage oyster farming, or aquaculture, throughout the Bay, and help hatcheries to grow more baby oysters known as "spat-on-shell" so they can be planted on dozens of artificial reefs built in the lower Chesapeake.

The whole story is here.  Story also references the oft-delayed EIS oyster report, which is once again delayed. We used to write stories every time a new deadline was announced; now I'm just waiting until it shows up, which I expect will be next spring. If that comes to pass, the two states will have studied the Asian oyster as well as native options for five year-about the time that the National Academy of Sciences recommended.