Oyster Farmer’s Case Shines Light on Industry Regulations

DIAS CREEK – Oyster farmer Marc Zitter is suing 12 New Jersey state employees for more than $3 million in damages, claiming they violated his civil rights by illegally seizing his business without a hearing, according to NJ.com.
According to the report, in September 2013, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection conservation officers began secretly videotaping Zitter’s operations in Delaware Bay and on a barge in Dias Creek, a small tributary in Cape May County.
In October 2013, 10 officers shut down Zitter’s operation by seizing his boat, ATV and tens of thousands of dollars in gear, loaded Zitter’s 600,000-plus oysters into pickup trucks, hauled them on a boat to the middle of Delaware Bay and dumped them overboard, basket by basket.
Three days later, Zitter was charged by the DEP with harvesting shellfish from prohibited waters, fined and stripped of his license by the state Department of Health.
Zitter was later arrested following an encounter with a pair of DEP conservation officers in his driveway, who came to his home to deliver his summons for harvesting shellfish from prohibited waters. Lower Township Police were called and Zitter was arrested for obstruction and taken away in handcuffs. He later pleaded guilty to the obstruction charge, court records show.
After a year of delays and with the case moving toward trial in Middle Township Municipal Court, the DEP quietly dropped all charges against Zitter. There was a two-sentence court order, but no other explanation.
In the suit, Zitter claims the DEP’s Division of Fish and Wildlife targeted him because he was set to testify against them in a separate case involving a pair of Cape May commercial fisherman charged with illegally harvesting sea bass.
Officials with the NJ Department of Environmental Protection and the state Attorney General’s office declined to comment on the case, telling NJ.com they are prohibited from discussing it because of Zitter’s pending lawsuit.
This case brings to light an obstacle facing many in New Jersey’s oyster industry, regulations in disarray, where a person might need permits from as many as 13 agencies to raise and sell oysters, according to NJ.com.
DEP officials declined to comment to NJ.com on Zitter’s case specifically, but spokesman Bob Considine conceded years of legislation and regulation have created regulations that are “unnecessarily complex and burdensome.” The agency, he said, is working to have newer streamlined rules in place by next year.