Coastal HarvestA distinct section of Charted Waters, for crabbing and shellfishing rather than rod-and-reel fishing. Looking for fishing instead? →
Public Ground, Private Leases, and Health Status
Understand why a visible reef or flat is never, by itself, proof that harvesting there is legal.
Requiredstandard
Why it matters
This is the single most important legal-literacy lesson in this whole guide — public access, harvest authorization, private-lease status, and current health status are four separate questions, and this guide's own Elizabeth River area page exists specifically to prove the point with a real example.
Steps
- Public access to a shoreline or water body does not mean the shellfish ground beneath it is public — Virginia's shellfish-ground system includes real private leases and riparian assignments invisible from the water. See this guide's own Oyster & Clam Guide.
- Even genuinely public, unleased ground can be closed under VDH's own health classification (approved/conditionally approved/restricted/prohibited) — a status that can change quickly and isn't visible by looking at the water.
- This guide does not display live health-closure status anywhere — every area page instead links directly to VDH's own current map. Check it every time, not from memory of a past trip.
Safety considerations:
- When you cannot confirm current health status with confidence, treat the area as closed — this guide's own Health & Safety section states this explicitly as a fail-closed rule, not a suggestion.
Sources
Last reviewed 2026-08-10