Latest news with #ChesapeakeBay
CBS News
2 days ago
- Climate
- CBS News
Oxygen levels in Maryland's Chesapeake Bay decline after heavy rain in May, data shows
The Chesapeake Bay saw historically low oxygen levels in June, after heavy rain in May, according to data from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR). According to a DNR report, the low oxygen levels led to hypoxia in the bay, which happens when the water has less than 2 mg/l of oxygen. An increase in hypoxia levels can impact fish and crabs that live in the water. The hypoxia increase in the Chesapeake Bay was reported between early and late June. However, no hypoxia was recorded in May. In the past 41 years, there were only nine times when hypoxia was not seen in May, according to the DNR. Data shows hypoxia increased from below average levels in early June to above average in late June. It comes after heavy rainfall in Maryland and Pennsylvania during May and hot temperatures during June. According to the DNR, heavy rainfall can lead to lower oxygen levels as runoff pushes excess nutrients into the Chesapeake Bay. This can impact algal blooms and reduce the clarity of the water. The regional weather patterns fueled algal blooms and resulted in less oxygen consumption. Temperatures also impact hypoxia levels as warmer water holds less oxygen. Data shows hypoxia in the Bay was triple the normal average in late June, the largest volume of hypoxia seen in Maryland since the monitoring program began. The increase in hypoxia levels can impact wildlife in the Chesapeake Bay, as crabs, fish, oysters and other animals need the dissolved oxygen to live. According to the DNR, some watermen reported finding dead crabs in shallow water in early July. An analysis found that winds between July 1 and July 4 likely pushed water east, allowing low oxygen levels to come closer to the surface in some locations. The DNR is studying the level and duration of hypoxia in the Bay to determine specific impacts to wildlife. DNR officials also emphasized that reducing phosphorus pollution from industrial and wastewater runoff, farms and cities could reduce hypoxia conditions in the Bay.
CBS News
4 days ago
- General
- CBS News
Veterans, service members help restore oysters and clean water in the Chesapeake Bay
A group of veterans and active-duty service members from across the country got their hands dirty for a cause that's helping them heal and helping the Chesapeake Bay thrive. At Parrish Creek Landing in Shady Side on Tuesday, veterans and active-duty service members spent the day helping the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) get more oysters into Maryland waters. CBF oyster restoration coordinator Kellie Fiala said oysters provide habitat for aquatic life and are essential to the overall health of the bay. "An adult oyster can filter many gallons of water a day," Fiala said. The group helped process recycled oyster shells that will be used to grow new baby oysters – called spat. "It is manual work," said Fiala. "It's all part of the job, but it gets people out." These volunteers don't shy away from hard work. "They understand mission, they understand purpose," participant Garrett Robinson said. "They understand, 'Let's go get this done because it matters.'" Working as a team, they filled more than a dozen cages, each of them holding about 1,000 pounds of shell. "Which we're quantifying as around 2 million oysters that these will become home for," Fiala said. When they're ready, the oysters will be planted onto sanctuary reefs in the bay. These veteran volunteers are part of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers (BHA) Armed Forces Initiative (AFI) – an organization that helps military members navigate PTSD and traumatic brain injury through outdoor experiences. "There's a restorative aspect of that – getting out there, there's a lot of peace, tranquility," said AFI volunteer and Marine Corps veteran Garrett Robinson. Robinson said participants also find purpose through conservation efforts like this. "So that a generation from now, people can still go out on that water and go fishing because of the work I did today," Robinson said. Fiala said it's been a "special partnership" working with AFI. "These are service members that have and are currently still giving their time for our country, and we appreciate them taking the time to come and help out an organization like us with the work that we're doing," Fiala said. After their Maryland oyster restoration event, the group will travel down the Eastern Shore for various fishing expeditions and complete their trip at CBF's Brock Environmental Center in Virginia Beach on July 17.
CBS News
6 days ago
- General
- CBS News
Could Maryland's declining crab population impact the price of your next feast?
The blue crab population in Maryland's Chesapeake Bay is among the lowest it's been in 35 years, but watermen say this won't impact the cost of crabs this summer. A survey by the Virginia Institute of Marine Science and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources estimated total crab abundance is at 238 million, a 25% drop from 317 million in 2024. This is the lowest count since surveys began in 1990. Blue crab population declines in Maryland and Virginia According to the report, this year's decline affected all population segments. The population of adult male crabs dropped to 26 million, adult female crabs dropped to 108 million and juvenile crabs dropped to 103 million. The numbers are significantly lower than those in the 2024 report, which showed levels were slightly below average. "It's definitely a red flag, and people should be considering what comes next for blue crabs," said Dr. Allison Colden, Maryland Executive Director of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. "We have seen the number of females around this range produce many more juvenile crabs than we are seeing now. What that signals to us is that there may have been a shift in the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem." The blue crab is an indicator of the health of the bay, according to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF). The annual survey between Maryland and Virginia looks at 1,500 sites and is conducted in the winter when crabs are embedded in the bottom of the bay and not moving. The numbers are then translated to the summer season. The number of juvenile crabs is also a key observation that provides a better scope of what the population will look like in the summer and fall. Why are blue crab populations declining? Blue crab populations can vary dramatically year-to-year due to weather trends, predator numbers and habitat availability. The loss of critical crab habitats, such as underwater grasses, threatens the species. Invasive predators like blue catfish also pose a significant threat to blue crabs, so much so that the CBF recommends that fishermen catch and sell them to help the bay. Climate change and polluted runoff can be detrimental to young and spawning crabs. Chesapeake Bay area residents believe blue crabs are the bay animal that is most in need of protection, according to a poll taken by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation earlier in 2025. Demand for blue crab in Maryland The blue crab is the economic engine of the Chesapeake Bay and a summer staple on the shores of Maryland. They are not only a delicious meal, but the bread and butter of business on the bay. The crabbing industry in Maryland adds $600 million to the state's economy. It's the state's largest fishery, and provides half of the country's blue crabs. Watermen spend hours on the bay, hoping their pots are plentiful and reminiscing about days gone by when there were more crabs to catch. "There used to be a lot of crabs back in the day. A lot. Nowhere near what's there now. They used to go out, catch as many as they want and come in," said Nicholas Malec, a waterman whose family owns Lady Frances Crab House in Essex. The demand from customers is ever present, especially on warm summer weekends. The unpredictability of the business is a challenge for crab houses. Malec has been on the water his whole life, working with his family. His grandparents owned a crab house when he was growing up. Lady Frances Crab House has been in business for 29 years. "There are days we have to close because we don't have crabs," Malec said. "Like today, we went out and it wasn't that good. Tomorrow, we could go out and catch them again." Robbie Seiders has been on the water for 20 years. He used to sell crabs wholesale from his home. He built a steam trailer to sell this summer in Bowley's Quarters and Brooms Bloom in Harford County. The season sputtered to a start after a spring cold snap. The warmer temperatures mean more crabs to catch and sell. He took us out to check his pots, finding a sliver of optimism for the rest of the season. In his pots, he found not only a jumbo crab, which he can sell for a lot of money, but also a juvenile crab, which signifies hope for the seasons ahead. "Normally, something like that would need to be there for a couple days, but to have them go in there in a few hours, that's pretty good," Seiders said. "I was going to take tomorrow off, but I don't think I am anymore." Impact on crab prices in Maryland Watermen say that as the water gets warmer, their crab pots are filling up. But what does this mean for crab prices this summer? "Just because you're not catching anything doesn't mean you can jack the price up through the roof, because then people just won't want them," Seiders said. Malec agreed, noting that his prices stay the same, so customers know what to expect. "Stay kind of consistent with everybody," Malec said. "When we have a lot of crabs, we try to drop our prices to get rid of them." These watermen said Marylanders won't have to dig further into their wallets to buy crabs this summer. The major price driver isn't the supply, but the thousands of dollars it takes to even be on the water. "To maintain the boat, to pay help, to pay to keep the boat at the dock, or to keep up with new crab pots. They're things are very expensive," Seiders explained. "Those are the kinds of things that drive the price of crabs up. I'm pretty optimistic for the rest of the season. I think we are going to have a great year all the way up until it gets cold, maybe Halloween, maybe even Thanksgiving."
Yahoo
12-07-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Osprey came back from the brink once. Now chicks are dying in nests, and some blame overfishing
GLOUCESTER POINT, Va. (AP) — Stepping onto an old wooden duck blind in the middle of the York River, Bryan Watts looks down at a circle of sticks and pine cones on the weathered, guano-spattered platform. It's a failed osprey nest, taken over by diving terns. 'The birds never laid here this year,' said Watts, near the mouth of Virginia's Chesapeake Bay. 'And that's a pattern we've been seeing these last couple of years.' Watts has a more intimate relationship with ospreys than most people have with a bird — he has climbed to their nests to free them from plastic bags, fed them by hand and monitored their eggs with telescopic mirrors. The fish-eating raptor known for gymnastic dives and whistle-like chirps is an American conservation success story. After pesticides and other hazards nearly eliminated the species from much of the country, the hawk-like bird rebounded after the banning of DDT in 1972 and now numbers in the thousands in the U.S. But Watts has documented an alarming trend. The birds, which breed in many parts of the U.S., are failing to successfully fledge enough chicks around their key population center of the Chesapeake Bay. The longtime biologist blames the decline of menhaden, a small schooling fish critical to the osprey diet. Without menhaden to eat, chicks are starving and dying in nests, Watts said. Osprey are an environmental indicator Watts's claim has put him and environmental groups at odds with the fishing industry, trade unions and sometimes government regulators. Menhaden is valuable for fish oil, fish meal and agricultural food as well as bait. U.S. fishermen have caught at least 1.1 billion pounds of menhaden every year since 1951. Members of the industry tout its sustainability and said the decline in osprey may have nothing to do with fishing. But without help, the osprey population could tumble to levels not seen since the dark days of DDT, said Watts, director of the Center for Conservation Biology at The College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. 'The osprey are yelling pretty loudly that, hey, there's not enough menhaden for us to reproduce successfully,' Watts said. 'And we should be listening to them to be more informed fully on the fisheries side, and we should take precaution on the fisheries management side. But that hasn't won the day at this point.' Decline linked to menhaden in studies Watts, who has studied osprey on the Chesapeake for decades, has backed his claims of population decline by publishing studies in scientific journals. He said it boils down to a simple statistic — to maintain population, osprey pairs need to average 1.15 chicks per year. Osprey were reproducing at that level in the 1980s, but today in some areas around the main stem of the Chesapeake, it's less than half of that, Watts said. In particularly distressed areas, they aren't even reproducing at one-tenth that level, he said. And the decline in available menhaden matches the areas of nesting failure, Watts said. Also called pogies or bunkers, the oily menhaden are especially important for young birds because they are more nutritious than other fish in the sea. Osprey 'reproductive performance is inextricably linked to the availability and abundance' of menhaden, Watts wrote in a 2023 study published in Frontiers in Marine Science. Conservationists have been concerned for years, saying too many menhaden have been removed to maintain their crucial role in the ocean food chain. Historian H. Bruce Franklin went so far as to title his 2007 book on menhaden 'The Most Important Fish In The Sea.' Fishing industry pushes back Menhaden help sustain one of the world's largest fisheries, worth more than $200 million at the docks in 2023. Used as bait, the fish are critical for valuable commercial targets such as Maine lobster. They're also beloved by sportfishermen. The modern industry is dominated by Omega Protein, a Reedville, Virginia, company that is a subsidiary of Canadian aquaculture giant Cooke. The company pushed back at the idea that fishing is the cause of osprey decline, although it did acknowledge that fewer menhaden are showing up in some parts of the bay. Federal data show osprey breeding is in decline in many parts of the country, including where menhaden is not harvested at all, said Ben Landry, an Omega spokesperson. Climate change, pollution and development could be playing a role, said Landry and others with the company. Blaming fishing 'just reeks of environmental special interest groups having an influence over the process,' Landry said. New rules could be on the way The menhaden fishery is managed by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, an interstate body that crafts rules and sets fishing quotas. Prompted by questions about ospreys, it created a work group to address precautionary management of the species in the Chesapeake Bay. In April, this group proposed several potential management approaches, including seasonal closures, restrictions on quotas or days at sea, and limitations on kinds of fishing gear. The process of creating new rules could begin this summer, said James Boyle, fishery management plan coordinator with the commission. The osprey population has indeed shown declines in some areas since 2012, but it's important to remember the bird's population is much larger than it was before DDT was banned, Boyle said. 'There are big increases in osprey population since the DDT era,' Boyle said, citing federal data showing a six-fold increase in osprey populations along the Atlantic Coast since the 1960s. Environmentalists says bird's decline could worsen To a number of environmental groups, any decline is too much. This irritates some labor leaders who worry about losing more jobs as the fishing industry declines. Kenny Pinkard, retired vice president of UFCW Local 400's executive board and a longtime Virginia fishermen, said he feels the industry is being scapegoated. 'There are some people who just don't want to see us in business at all,' he said. But Chris Moore, Virginia executive director for Chesapeake Bay Foundation, said the country risks losing an iconic bird if no action is taken. He said Watts's studies show that the osprey will fail without access to menhaden. 'Osprey have been a success story,' Moore said. 'We're in a situation where they're not replacing their numbers. We'll actually be in a situation where we're in a steep decline.' ___ Whittle reported from Portland, Maine. ___ This story was supported by funding from the Walton Family Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Washington Post
12-07-2025
- General
- Washington Post
Osprey came back from the brink once. Now chicks are dying in nests, and some blame overfishing
GLOUCESTER POINT, Va. — Stepping onto an old wooden duck blind in the middle of the York River, Bryan Watts looks down at a circle of sticks and pine cones on the weathered, guano-spattered platform. It's a failed osprey nest, taken over by diving terns. 'The birds never laid here this year,' said Watts, near the mouth of Virginia's Chesapeake Bay . 'And that's a pattern we've been seeing these last couple of years.'
