Tag Archives: Chesapeake Bay
Mathematicians and Blue Crabs
Scientists in the Chesapeake Bay area have been playing a real-life version of Valentine’s game, with blue crabs instead of grouse. Each spring, they wait for the results of the baywide Blue Crab Winter Dredge Survey, the most recent of which were announced Monday. The estimate of the crab population gives scientists another data point to work with, and anxious watermen a sense of whether this will be a good or bad year for the most valuable commodity in the Chesapeake. Read the rest here 09:29
Survey shows number of blue crabs in Chesapeake Bay rising
An annual survey by marine officials shows a significant increase in the number of blue crabs in the Chesapeake Bay. The Virginia Marine Resources Commission says the overall bay-wide crab population increased from 297 million crabs to 411 million crabs, a 38 percent increase. The long, cold winter kept the numbers from being higher. The survey shows about 28 percent of all adult crabs in Maryland died due to the cold weather. Read the rest here 16:25
Oyster poaching continues on bay despite enforcement efforts
Waterman Edward “Bruce” Lowery lost his Maryland license to harvest oysters five years ago, after racking up more than three dozen violations. He was convicted of fishing at the wrong times, in the wrong places and using the wrong equipment. But that hasn’t stopped him from oystering in the. Lowery, 49, says he bought a piece of land in Virginia — a “$3,000 piece of nothing” where he has never lived — to secure a commercial license from that state. Virginia regulators didn’t ask about his record in Maryland. Read the rest here 10:30
Chesapeake Bay’s blue crab population rebounding
Last year was a dismal episode for Chesapeake Bay blue crabs and the watermen who harvest them. It’s not that crabs were being overfished. Instead, experts suspect a combination of environmental factors. The good news now is that preliminary evidence from the annual blue crab winter dredge survey shows the numbers are climbing again. Read the rest here 08:26
PHAs: ‘Bacteria fat’ that can help us save the Chesapeake – Crab Pot’s, and Shotgun Wads
PHAs are plastics that are made by bacteria. PHAs also are eaten by bacteria. “It’s like fat,” Kirk Havens says. He explained that just as vertebrates store energy in fat deposits, many bacteria synthesize PHAs—short for polyhydroxalkanoates—to store carbon and energy. An individual bacterium will draw on its little dab of polymer reserve to get through the lean days in its microscopic world, unless a bigger microorganism eats it first. Anything made of PHA will biodegrade, simply because bacteria start eating it. Read the rest here 11:53
Chesapeake Bay ice challenges commerce, navigation and fishing
Sheets of ice up to a foot thick in the Chesapeake Bay have beached small boats and fishermen, hampered operations at the port of Baltimore and kept one Coast Guard cutter busy tending to stranded islanders for more than a week amid the worst freeze in decades. For watermen who don’t risk the icy waters of the bay, the winter months can still take a toll. Some have lost nearly a month’s work, Brown said. “Some parts of the bay have been frozen for the whole month of February,” Read the rest here 16:46
To save their depleted species, female blue crabs go the extra mile to spawn in the bay
Deep under the cold, dark waters of the Chesapeake Bay, the answer to whether the decimated blue crab population can survive lies buried in mud. Tens of millions of female crabs are scattered across the floor of the lower bay in southern Virginia, where the estuary pours into the Atlantic Ocean, waiting out winter for one of the most important events in their short lives. When spring comes, they will inch closer to the ocean with billions of eggs. Read the rest here 11:21
Ken Cuccinelli’s post-politics endeavor: oyster farming
After losing an election, some politicians become lobbyists. Others immediately begin running for another office. Cuccinelli helped start an oyster farm on 
, in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay. Praised on Fox News, scoffed at by “The Daily Show,” the outspoken conservative now seems focused on creating a new source of sustainable jobs for people on Tangier. And on how the oysters taste. Read the rest 21:50
Atlantic sturgeon back in Chesapeake Bay, or did they ever leave?
Thought nearly extinct in the Chesapeake just two decades ago, sturgeon are turning up in surprising numbers and in surprising places. They’re also doing surprising things, like spawning in the fall — unlike any other anadromous fish on the East Coast. Read the rest here 08:55
Aquaculture debated in Delaware, booming in Maryland
Looking into Tar Bay, the man at the helm of the Chesapeake Gold confidently clicks the mud-splattered throttle forward. The morning is too cold, he says; temperatures have dipped to the 20s. Water freezes in place as it splashes the deck. Those are January temperatures, not mid-November. The wind stings the face of everyone on board. Read more here 11:30
Warmer Chesapeake Bay will change fishery
Rom Lipcius, a professor at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, has been crunching data from winter blue crab dredge surveys since 1990 and says the bay has warmed by half a degree more per decade than the global average of .3 to .5 degrees Fahrenheit. “As the bay warms, it will lose temperate species and the biogeographical boundary will shift a little further north and the bay will be more subtropical,” he said. Read the rest here 07:50
In 100 Years, Maryland’s Crab Cakes Might Be Shrimp Cakes
For centuries, the Chesapeake Bay has been a natural seafood factory along the East Coast, and that wealth of marine resources has shaped the area’s food culture and history—a 2011 Garden & Gun article referred to Maryland crab cakes as “practically a religion.” Seafood production also represents a critical portion of the Chesapeake Bay’s economic backbone. Read the rest here 10:17Dead menhaden reported in Chesapeake Bay leads to Inquisition by Sport Fishers, explanation by VRMC
Experts still aren’t sure what killed thousands of dead menhaden that local fishermen reported floating in a long line near the northern stretch of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel over the weekend. And they say they might never know. Read more here Social media posts from area fishermen indicate a commercial boat from Omega Protein was in the area at the time. Read the comments here! 19:15
Oysters in the Chesapeake Bay: When Partnerships Work
Too often, environmental groups, regulators and fishermen find themselves cast in antagonistic roles on marine issues. Prolonged legal and regulatory battles frequently top headlines, while successful conservation partnerships go unheralded. The Chesapeake Bay, long plagued by problems like pollution and runoff, is benefitting from one such partnership. Read more here 11:10
Blue and Flathead Catfish Invade the Chesapeake Bay – No wonder prefered stocks are in trouble!
Initially introduced for sport fishing in several Virginia tributaries in the 1960s to 1980s, blue and flathead catfish are now considered invasive in the Chesapeake Bay have , and they are now present in every major Chesapeake Bay tributary. Read more here 11:36
Watermen report Chesapeake blue crab shortage – Video
Blue crabs are big business along the Chesapeake Bay during the summer months. They’re a Virginia tradition — steamed, deviled, or battered up and fried, blue crabs are in high demand for miles around. But this year, they’re in short supply. Read more here 08:49
Gov. McAuliffe Celebrates Signing of New Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement
The Agreement, developed over the last two years, lays out clear goals and outcomes for sustainable fisheries, vital habitats, water quality, toxic contaminants, healthy watersheds, stewardship, land conservation, public access, environmental literacy, and resiliency of the Bay ecosystem in the face of changing climatic conditions and rising sea levels. Read more here 18:44
Study Finds Reduction in Pollution in Chesapeake Bay
A new report says the states in the Chesapeake Bay’s watershed are making progress in reducing pollution, but fall short in preventing runoff from urban, suburban and farming sources. Read more here 06:52
McAuliffe signs storm-water legislation at VIMS
GLOUCESTER Va— Gov. Terry McAuliffe proved he’s a hands-on governor Thursday when he capped a ceremonial signing of state legislation regulating storm water on the campus of Virginia Institute of Marine Science with a tour on a trawling boat that had him handling live fish and blue crab. Read more here 09:18
O’Malley has failed to protect the Chesapeake Bay [Letter]
In his recent State of the State Address, Gov. Martin O’Malley touted his accomplishments in Chesapeake Bay restoration. On closer examination, the record reveals that his claims were misstatements, at best. Robert Lyon, Annapolis Read more here 15:43
Chesapeake Bay Makes Progress, But Still Hindered By Illegal Discharge
EIP Attorney Tarah Heinzen said: “2012 progress reducing industrial and municipal pollution in key Chesapeake Bay states is encouraging, but we need to do more if we want to stay on track and meet 2017 goals. Nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment pollution continues to degrade the water quality and fisheries of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries each year. All of the Bay states must focus on reducing these discharges and get serious about stopping illegal discharges.” Read more@pollutiononline 06:37
Holiday season is time to crack down on oyster poaching in Chesapeake Bay
The weeks leading to the holidays tend to be the most active for oyster poachers in the Chesapeake Bay, but the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and state police were hoping in recent days that new technology and harsher penalties would help them crack down on illegal oyster harvesting. Read more@baltimoresun 13:10
Furious over threats to the (Chesapeake) bay [Letter]
I speak on behalf of all those who are passionate about the health of the Chesapeake Bay when I say I am furious (“Farm pollution rule withdrawn,” Nov. 18).It seems like with every passing week, there is another story about dead zones, or fisheries in decline, or harbor businesses struggling; but no mention of meaningful attempts to restore the bay. read more here 13:13
Scientists unable to completely explain the mystery of the missing blue crabs
A year and a half ago, there seemed to be no shortage of good news about blue crabs. The annual winter dredge survey estimated 764 million blue crabs were in the Bay, the most in 19 years and a huge jump from the previous year. The governors of Maryland and Virginia issued a joint news release talking about the “extraordinary explosion in juvenile blue crab abundance.” [email protected] 13:19
Virginia winter blue crab dredge fishery closed for another year
The Chesapeake Bay winter crab dredge fishery will be closed for yet another year after Virginia Marine Resources Commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to give the bay’s depleted stock of iconic blue crabs time to rebuild. [email protected] 10:02
Multistate agreement in works for Chesapeake Bay
States in the Chesapeake Bay watershed are working to have a new cleanup agreement ready by October with clearer goals and greater flexibility and transparency. continued@thestatejournal
VIMS study: Dead zones bad for bay-bottom fishes, too
Now researchers at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, or VIMS, have completed an exhaustive 10-year study that they say provides the first quantitative evidence of the impacts on demersal fishes baywide. continued@dailypress
New Virginia Institute of Marine Science study shows ‘dead zone’ impacts Chesapeake Bay fishes
The study, published in the May issue of Marine Ecology Progress Series, was authored by Andre Buchheister, a Ph.D. student in William & Mary’s School of Marine Science at VIMS, along with VIMS colleagues Chris Bonzek, Jim Gartlan
d, and Dr. Rob Latour. Low-oxygen conditions—what scientists call “hypoxia”—form when excessive loads of nitrogen from fertilizers, sewage, and other sources feed algal blooms in coastal waters. [email protected]
A collaborative approach to Chesapeake Bay restoration
Today, pollution threatens all of the recent progress we’ve made at cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay. At risk is not only the ecosystem’s survival, but also a way of life for so many. Despite successful pollution reduction efforts, excessive nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment from runoff also still contribute to harmful algal blooms, “dead zones” and loss of underwater grasses. continued @ tidewaternews.com
How does the Chesapeake Bay spell antacid relief? O-Y-S-T-E-R-S!
Like ocean waters around the world, the Chesapeake has become more and more acidic as a result of rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Now, by studying oyster populations in relation to acidity levels, a team of researchers has concluded that oysters — particularly their shells — can play a significant role in reducing that acidity. continued
