{"id":16648,"date":"2025-12-16T20:34:34","date_gmt":"2025-12-17T01:34:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/?page_id=16648"},"modified":"2025-12-16T20:34:34","modified_gmt":"2025-12-17T01:34:34","slug":"virginia-department-of-health-closes-the-poquoson-river-and-its-tributaries-to-shellfish-harvesting","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/public-relations-contacts\/archived-news-releases\/2025-news-releases\/virginia-department-of-health-closes-the-poquoson-river-and-its-tributaries-to-shellfish-harvesting\/","title":{"rendered":"Virginia Department of Health Closes the Poquoson River and Its Tributaries to Shellfish Harvesting"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE &#8211; December 16, 2025<br \/>\nMedia Contact: Stephanie Hudson, Eastern Region PIO<br \/>\nStephanie.Hudson@vdh.virginia.gov, (804) 396-9640<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Virginia Department of Health Closes the Poquoson River and Its Tributaries to Shellfish Harvesting<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>(RICHMOND, Va.) &#8211; The Virginia Department of Health announced today that the Poquoson River and its tributaries are closed to harvesting shellfish due to a sewage release that occurred on December 16, 2025. Because these waters can be contaminated with pollutants such as pathogenic bacteria and viruses, shellfish taken from the area affected by the emergency closure are currently unacceptable for consumption. The temporary emergency closure is set to be effective from December 17, 2025, through January 6, 2026.<\/p>\n<p>Ingesting shellfish taken from the closed areas at this time could cause gastrointestinal illnesses including Norovirus, Hepatitis A and Shigellosis. In addition, the Virginia Department of Health urges the public to minimize exposure to the water by rinsing or washing items that come into contact with the water, including fishing gear, life vests, ropes and paddles.<\/p>\n<p>A map of the affected area is posted on the Division of Shellfish Safety\u2019s home page at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/Shellfish\/\"><strong>www.vdh.virginia.gov\/Shellfish\/<\/strong><\/a>.\u00a0 The affected shellfish are filter-feeding bivalve mollusks including oysters and clams but not crabs or fin fish.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">###<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE &#8211; December 16, 2025 Media Contact: Stephanie Hudson, Eastern Region PIO Stephanie.Hudson@vdh.virginia.gov, (804) 396-9640 Virginia Department of Health Closes the Poquoson River and Its Tributaries to Shellfish Harvesting (RICHMOND, Va.) &#8211; The Virginia Department of Health announced today that the Poquoson River and its tributaries are closed to harvesting shellfish due to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":0,"parent":12290,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[1381,1382,182],"class_list":["post-16648","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","tag-harvesting","tag-poquoson-river","tag-shellfish"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Virginia Department of Health Closes the Poquoson River and Its Tributaries to Shellfish Harvesting - Newsroom<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/public-relations-contacts\/archived-news-releases\/2025-news-releases\/virginia-department-of-health-closes-the-poquoson-river-and-its-tributaries-to-shellfish-harvesting\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Virginia Department of Health Closes the Poquoson River and Its Tributaries to Shellfish Harvesting - Newsroom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE &#8211; December 16, 2025 Media Contact: Stephanie Hudson, Eastern Region PIO Stephanie.Hudson@vdh.virginia.gov, (804) 396-9640 Virginia Department of Health Closes the Poquoson River and Its Tributaries to Shellfish Harvesting (RICHMOND, Va.) &#8211; The Virginia Department of Health announced today that the Poquoson River and its tributaries are closed to harvesting shellfish due to [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/public-relations-contacts\/archived-news-releases\/2025-news-releases\/virginia-department-of-health-closes-the-poquoson-river-and-its-tributaries-to-shellfish-harvesting\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Newsroom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/news\\\/public-relations-contacts\\\/archived-news-releases\\\/2025-news-releases\\\/virginia-department-of-health-closes-the-poquoson-river-and-its-tributaries-to-shellfish-harvesting\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/news\\\/public-relations-contacts\\\/archived-news-releases\\\/2025-news-releases\\\/virginia-department-of-health-closes-the-poquoson-river-and-its-tributaries-to-shellfish-harvesting\\\/\",\"name\":\"Virginia Department of Health Closes the Poquoson River and Its Tributaries to Shellfish Harvesting - Newsroom\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-17T01:34:34+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/news\\\/public-relations-contacts\\\/archived-news-releases\\\/2025-news-releases\\\/virginia-department-of-health-closes-the-poquoson-river-and-its-tributaries-to-shellfish-harvesting\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/news\\\/public-relations-contacts\\\/archived-news-releases\\\/2025-news-releases\\\/virginia-department-of-health-closes-the-poquoson-river-and-its-tributaries-to-shellfish-harvesting\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/news\\\/public-relations-contacts\\\/archived-news-releases\\\/2025-news-releases\\\/virginia-department-of-health-closes-the-poquoson-river-and-its-tributaries-to-shellfish-harvesting\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/news\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Newsroom\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/news\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Archived News Releases\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/news\\\/public-relations-contacts\\\/archived-news-releases\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"2025 News Releases\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/news\\\/public-relations-contacts\\\/archived-news-releases\\\/2025-news-releases\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":5,\"name\":\"Virginia Department of Health Closes the Poquoson River and Its Tributaries to Shellfish Harvesting\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"Newsroom\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Virginia Department of Health Closes the Poquoson River and Its Tributaries to Shellfish Harvesting - Newsroom","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/public-relations-contacts\/archived-news-releases\/2025-news-releases\/virginia-department-of-health-closes-the-poquoson-river-and-its-tributaries-to-shellfish-harvesting\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Virginia Department of Health Closes the Poquoson River and Its Tributaries to Shellfish Harvesting - Newsroom","og_description":"FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE &#8211; December 16, 2025 Media Contact: Stephanie Hudson, Eastern Region PIO Stephanie.Hudson@vdh.virginia.gov, (804) 396-9640 Virginia Department of Health Closes the Poquoson River and Its Tributaries to Shellfish Harvesting (RICHMOND, Va.) &#8211; The Virginia Department of Health announced today that the Poquoson River and its tributaries are closed to harvesting shellfish due to [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/public-relations-contacts\/archived-news-releases\/2025-news-releases\/virginia-department-of-health-closes-the-poquoson-river-and-its-tributaries-to-shellfish-harvesting\/","og_site_name":"Newsroom","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/public-relations-contacts\/archived-news-releases\/2025-news-releases\/virginia-department-of-health-closes-the-poquoson-river-and-its-tributaries-to-shellfish-harvesting\/","url":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/public-relations-contacts\/archived-news-releases\/2025-news-releases\/virginia-department-of-health-closes-the-poquoson-river-and-its-tributaries-to-shellfish-harvesting\/","name":"Virginia Department of Health Closes the Poquoson River and Its Tributaries to Shellfish Harvesting - Newsroom","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-12-17T01:34:34+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/public-relations-contacts\/archived-news-releases\/2025-news-releases\/virginia-department-of-health-closes-the-poquoson-river-and-its-tributaries-to-shellfish-harvesting\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/public-relations-contacts\/archived-news-releases\/2025-news-releases\/virginia-department-of-health-closes-the-poquoson-river-and-its-tributaries-to-shellfish-harvesting\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/public-relations-contacts\/archived-news-releases\/2025-news-releases\/virginia-department-of-health-closes-the-poquoson-river-and-its-tributaries-to-shellfish-harvesting\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Newsroom","item":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Archived News Releases","item":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/public-relations-contacts\/archived-news-releases\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"2025 News Releases","item":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/public-relations-contacts\/archived-news-releases\/2025-news-releases\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":5,"name":"Virginia Department of Health Closes the Poquoson River and Its Tributaries to Shellfish Harvesting"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/","name":"Newsroom","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/16648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/676"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16648"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/16648\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16649,"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/16648\/revisions\/16649"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}