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After five years of study and a long-awaited draft Environmental Impact Statement from the Army Corps of Engineers, federal authorities and officials in Maryland and Virginia must soon decide whether to introduce an oyster species from Asia into the Chesapeake Bay.

To me the conclusion is clear: Stick with our native oyster. It will thrive once again if given a fair chance.

I have followed this issue since it was proposed in Virginia and later adopted by some in Maryland as a possible silver bullet for both the Bay's oyster woes and water-quality problems. Some in Virginia are discussing legislation backing the introduction of Asian oysters.

In decisions of this magnitude, we need to listen to our scientists, citizens and neighbors.

Leading scientists caution that the risks involved with the Asian oyster are too great and the benefits too uncertain. Pointing to significant advances in native oyster restoration, evidence of increasing disease tolerance in protected sanctuaries and recent advances in aquaculture, the scientific community is recommending improved and expanded efforts with our own oyster as the surest path to success. This guidance comes from the Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences and the Chesapeake Bay Program's Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee, as well as groups like the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, The Nature Conservancy and the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins University's Bloomberg School of Public Health report the Asian oyster is more likely to harbor human viruses and may be able to hold more harmful pathogens for longer periods of time, increasing the risk of people getting sick from eating it.

The introduction of the foreign oyster is opposed by all three federal agencies that assisted the Army Corps with the environmental impact statement, including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Fish and Wildlife Service, and Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA has rated the environmental impact of Asian oysters as "environmentally unacceptable."

I understand that almost 2,000 people took time to submit a comment, and the vast majority of them opposed the Asian oyster in favor of working to restore the native species. You have to be impressed when that many people stop for a moment to weigh in on a topic remote from the usual concerns of their daily lives.

Our neighbors in Delaware, New York, New Jersey, North Carolina, and South Carolina all oppose the introduction of foreign oysters because of the inevitable spread to their states. Fisheries commissions representing East Coast and Gulf Coast states have also voiced their opposition.

America's landscape is littered today with pests introduced into ecosystems where they don't belong. Think of gypsy moths or zebra mussels. Think of MSX, an Asian parasite, probably introduced by a foreign bivalve, that has devastated the Bay's native oysters.

We have spent enough time chasing a magical Bay-cleaning silver bullet. It is time to tackle the hard tasks like improving water quality to eliminate dead zones of low oxygen and decrease sediment loads that smother oyster reefs.

Let's refocus on what is working. That means well-planned native oyster restoration projects implemented at geographic scales that are large enough to make a measurable difference and placed in the best possible locations and protected from harvest. It also means development of a job-producing oyster aquaculture industry that is already showing dazzling promise, enabled by much-needed updates to century-old state laws governing use of the Bay bottom land and water column.

The answer does not lie with an oyster from Asia, but rather with our own oyster properly restored and managed for ecological benefits and cultivated by industry for commercial production.

Brian E. Frosh, a Democrat from Bethesda, represents District 16 in the state Senate, where he is chairman of the Judicial Proceedings Committee. He previously chaired the Senate's Environment Subcommittee.