(08/43) TRENTON - The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection today reopened shellfish beds within a 130-square-mile portion of the Delaware Bay closed to harvesting on Aug. 19 after state health officials confirmed two cases of illness from Vibrio parahaemolyticus linked to oysters from those waters.

The decision to lift the temporary ban follows sampling and testing of shellfish tissue, which determined the shellfish beds are acceptable for harvesting oysters, clams and mussels.

Vibrio parahaemolyticus is a bacterium that occurs naturally in coastal waters.