Editor, Gazette-Journal:

Following the Great August Storm of 1933, submerged grasses (SAV) on the entire seaside of Virginia’s Eastern Shore completely died off, and did not begin to return until the 1980s. In 1993, after many years of denying applications in the Chesapeake Bay proper, the surrounding states proposed a grand resolution. Restoration of grasses was to be completed by 2005, led by VIMS’s Dr. Orth.

Halting progress was interrupted in mid-summer of 2005 by a massive eelgrass die-off Bay-wide, and yet another in 2010. Fortunately, widgeon grass, heretofore a minor player, came forward and last summer we saw vast, natural dense stands of grass. Fine and dandy, but what’s the point?

Lacking sustainability and consistent presence, grasses cannot begin to fulfill the environmental benefits claimed by VIMS. Driven by their desire to control and monopolize all shallow water growing areas, that dynamic duo—VIMS and VMRC—attempted by regulation ...