Maryland Natural Resource Police Cpl. Jason Kreider performs a commercial seafood inspection at a seafood market in 2024. From vessel checks where officers inspect for adequate safety measures, to commercial facility inspections, NRP plays a vital role in affirming the shellfish bought by everyday consumers meet the rigorous standards of the NSSP. Maryland DNR photo.
When it comes to seafood sanitation and public health, the National Shellfish Sanitation Program has for 100 years ensured shellfish sold in the United States meets standards for human consumption. Maryland plays a key role in the compliance and enforcement of the program’s principles as one of the leaders of commercially-exported seafood among coastal states.
The work of the National Shellfish Sanitation Program (NSSP) in Maryland and its partnership with state agencies has helped to ensure seafood from the Chesapeake Bay and state waters are safe and healthy to consume. While these efforts are always critical, incidents like the recent Potomac Interceptor sewage spill in the Potomac River highlight the importance of these rigorous quality control measures.
In addition to other state monitoring after the Potomac spill, the NSSP has ensured that oysters currently being sold on the market that come from the Chesapeake Bay meet safety standards. In its water quality monitoring, the Maryland Department of the Environment’s Water and Science Administration has found no evidence that shellfish harvesting waters of the Potomac River are affected by the spill further upstream.
The NSSP was created in 1925 after the U.S. Public Health Service recognized rising disease rates associated with the consumption of raw oysters, clams, and mussels.
On Feb. 19 of that year, the U.S. Surgeon General convened with state conservation agencies, local health authorities, and federal commercial fisheries representatives to develop a set of guiding principles to address the health issues that were arising. Those principles became the foundation of the NSSP and the Interstate Shellfish Sanitation Conference.
A century later, operating under the federal Food and Drug Administration, the program remains as important as ever, ensuring that shellfish harvested stateside are safe to eat. Every two years, the NSSP updates its safety guide and shares its recommendations publicly. In Maryland today, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, Department of the Environment, and the Department of Health are the three agencies that collaboratively implement the NSSP.
The Maryland Natural Resources Police (NRP) has long served as one of many enforcement agencies tasked with ensuring harvest safety. NRP traces its roots to commercial oyster enforcement, founded in 1868 as the State Oyster Police Force. In the early years of the force, it led an “oyster navy” of schooners and armed steamers to suppress poaching by out-of-state boats – described by locals as “oyster pirates.” Today, enforcing laws regulating oyster harvesting and conservation remains a routine duty of the NRP.
From vessel checks where officers inspect for adequate safety measures, to commercial facility inspections, NRP plays a vital role in affirming the shellfish bought by everyday consumers meet the rigorous standards of the NSSP.
Standards set forth by the program include regulation of the beds on which shellfish are grown, plants where shellfish are shucked and packed, methods of transportation, and several other areas of focus. NRP officers in Maryland, as well as law enforcement counterparts in neighboring states, routinely check vessels engaged in the act of shellfish harvesting.
During those checks, officers ensure that watermen are harvesting in legal areas and using permitted methods. Officers also check to ensure proper harvesting practices are being followed. In certain areas, it might be permissible to use power dredge equipment, while there are other locations where harvesters can only use hand-tonging equipment.
Other NSSP-mandated regulations are inspected on commercial vessels. Compliance checks ensure that proper safety measures are on board and that sanitation requirements are being met, including providing shade over where oysters are stored, documenting harvest time, and following curfew restrictions relating to the warmest parts of the day.
Similar regulations are enforced at seafood dealers, where shellfish are prepared, shucked, packed for shipping, and sold.
The Maryland Department of Health establishes state-specific regulations for handling and processing based on the NSSP-mandated requirements to assure the safety of Maryland’s commercially produced shellfish.
The Maryland Department of the Environment’s Water and Science Administration is responsible for regulating shellfish harvesting waters. In response to the Potomac Interceptor spill, the administration has worked to identify and eliminate pollution sources, in addition to collecting monthly water samples for bacteriological examination and examining shellstock samples for bacteriological contamination and chemical toxicants.
This long-term partnership between the NSSP’s safety efforts and enforcement by NRP helps ensure that shellfish harvested in Maryland is safe to eat.
