SEDIMENTS 2-OYSTERS-0 - THE CASE-HISTORIES OF 2 LEGAL DISPUTES INVOLVING FINE SEDIMENT AND OYSTERS

The essential elements of two prolonged legal disputes concerning fine sediment and oysters are reviewed. One relates to extensive subtidal oyster cultivation by traditional methods and alleged losses due to se diment claimed to be reworked during a capital dredge operation. The s econd relates to an intensive, modern oyster farm using fixed structur es installed on a muddy tidal flat. In the latter case, a major stock kill due to mud incursion was indisputable but the Plaintiff claimed t he source was mud liberated after a small scale experiment to eradicat e Spartina from an adjacent embayment some years earlier. The evidence successfully amassed to resist both these actions is outlined. The ju dgements and the lessons arising from them me described- The shellfish industry in the U.K. and Eire will urgently require proper sedimentat ion engineering design criteria if the trend for larger commercial ent erprises on fixed structures continues.