Chesapeake Bay News

222 Severn/W&P Nautical, is the newest Clean Marina to be certified by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR). The marina, one of Annapolis’ oldest marine properties is home to a variety of marine businesses.

222 Severn covers an entire city block in the Eastport area of Annapolis. The property has been the site of boat building operations, including the famed Trumpy Yachts, since the early 1900s. The Templeton family has owned and managed the marina since 1974.

source: MD DNR

Maryland’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR) recently released the results from 2011 From the Bay, For the Bay Dine Out. Through a collaborative partnership among regional restaurants, DNR and the Oyster Recovery Partnership (ORP), the week-long celebration raised $20,240 to support Chesapeake Bay oyster restoration.

More than 170 restaurants in Maryland, Washington D.C., Delaware, Pennsylvania and Virginia participated in the promotion, which took place October 2-9, 2011. The restaurants donated $1 from every Maryland seafood dinner sold during the week; the money is being donated to ORP to support oyster restoration efforts.

Top participating restaurants included the Boatyard Bar & Grill in Annapolis, Woodberry Kitchen and Ryleigh’s Oyster Bar in Baltimore, and Matchbox Restaurants in Washington, DC. Together they donated $5,626.

ORP’s oyster restoration activities include collecting, aging, cleaning oyster shells and planting spat (baby oysters), on the oyster shells. The spat is produced by the University of Maryland, Center for Environmental Science Horn Point Hatchery.

The Oyster Recovery Partnership’s most publically-recognized program – the region’s oyster Shell Recycling Alliance – is made up of nearly 100 restaurants, caterers and seafood distributors from the mid-Atlantic region, as well as citizen volunteers who collect donated used oyster shells from these businesses to aid in restoring the Chesapeake Bay.

The Shell Recycling Alliance has quickly grown to provide 15 percent of Maryland’s shell needs at current oyster production levels, prolonging the State’s limited shell reserves. For more information on the Oyster Recovery Partnership, visit oysterrecovery.org.

source: MD DNR

Annapolis Seafood Market has partnered with the Oyster Recovery Partnership (ORP) to collect used oyster shells from their stores and participating restaurants to help promote the expansion of oyster beds in the Chesapeake Bay. As part of their program, Annapolis Seafood Market will display educational signage inside each store for their customers to learn how they can participate in this important recycling effort.

Annapolis Seafood Market utilizes five-gallon buckets at each of their locations to collect used oyster shells. During their normal delivery routes, drivers drop the empty buckets, pick up the filled ones then return them to Annapolis Seafood Market’s Distribution Center in Annapolis where they are transferred to a 400-bushel shell collection container.

ORP and its partners collect the shells weekly and transport them to the Horn Point Oyster Hatchery near Cambridge, Maryland where they begin the drying and aging process. Later in the process, young oyster spat are allowed to attach to old shells and re-planted to help repopulate the Bay’s oyster population.

Nearly 100 restaurants and catering companies currently participate in the Shell Recycling Alliance.

For more information visit http://www.oysterrecovery.org/

source:  Oyster Recovery Partnership

The Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Boating Services and Downtown Sailing Center in Baltimore held a ribbon cutting on September 24 to officially open the newly renovated marina located in the Inner Harbor.

The project included concrete piers which were recycled from the Inner Harbor Marina to enhance the existing marine facility. The newly configured dock layout will accommodate a larger number of people, allows for easier wheelchair access onto vessels, and provides more space for larger boats. The entire facility is designed to meet ADA requirements.

The total project cost was $300,000. State grants were provided through the DNR Waterway Improvement Fund. Revenue for the Fund comes from the one-time 5 percent excise tax paid when a boat is titled in the State of Maryland.

source: MD DNR

The Chesapeake Conservation Corps, a program that provides career and leadership training for young people interested in environmental careers and Chesapeake Bay protection will be receiving 21 new participants.

This initiative, established by the Maryland Legislature in 2010, matches young people, ages 18-25, with organizations throughout the state for paid, one-year terms of service.

In its inaugural year, 16 Corps Volunteers worked on a variety of environmental initiatives including energy efficiency programs, restoration activities and clean-ups, water quality monitoring programs, reforestation projects and job training programs for youth.

Due to the success of last year’s program, the Corps has expanded this year to include 21 participants, who will gain valuable work experience and partner with local communities to advance conservation initiatives in Maryland.

At a recent kickoff, new Corps volunteers were introduced to the 21 Maryland watershed organizations, county governments, and other nonprofits at which they will serve for the next year. The Corps Volunteers are between the ages of 18 and 25 and bring diverse experience and backgrounds to their host organizations, ranging from international climate change and marine biology to experience working with volunteer organizations such as the Red Cross.

Four of last year’s Corps participants (25 percent) have already been hired by their host organizations as full time employees, thus providing sustained employment for young people in Maryland.

The program is funded by both the State of Maryland and the Chesapeake Bay Trust, with a generous contribution provided by Constellation Energy.  Volunteers are provided with a stipend for one year in addition to on-the-job experience and technical training provided by the Chesapeake Bay Trust.

Corps volunteers also have an opportunity to enroll in environmental career certificate programs offered by the Chesapeake Area Consortium for Higher Education, a consortium of Maryland community colleges.

source: Chesapeake Bay Trust

As of August 26, 2011, residents of the Chesapeake Bay region remained on high alert as hurricane warnings were in effect for parts of the bay.

The forecast for Hurricane Irene includes heavy winds, rain, storm surge, flooding and possible storm damage.

A state of emergency was in effect for both Maryland and Virginia and evacuation plans remain in effect for many areas.

For the latest information, visit the National Hurricane Center website at : http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/

A Boater’s Guide to the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail, a new free resource, introduces boaters as well as armchair travelers to the Chesapeake Bay and its tributary rivers.

Author John Page Williams expertly weaves practical information for today’s boaters with the historical context of the Chesapeake’s waters, allowing readers to envision the Chesapeake as Captain John Smith explored it four hundred years ago and as American Indian societies have experienced it for thousands of years.

Readers can learn the location of trailheads (including GPS coordinates), see suggested trip itineraries, and compare on-the-water experiences for paddle-craft, skiffs and runabouts, and cruising powerboats and sailboats.

The guide’s interactive features include links to additional maps, NOAA’s Chesapeake Bay Interpretive Buoy System, navigation charts, and information on facilities and points of interest.

The guide is a joint project of the National Park Service Chesapeake Bay Office, the Chesapeake Conservancy, and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

A Boater’s Guide to the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail is available for free download from the trail’s website: http://www.smithtrail.net/

The Maryland Department of Natural Resources’ (DNR) Artificial Reef Program joined the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) on August 11 to place 306 oyster spat-laden reef balls on a two-acre site near Cooks Point in the Choptank River using CBF’s oyster research vessel Patricia Campbell.

Volunteers from CBF and the Dorchester County chapter of the Maryland Saltwater Sportfishermen’s Association (MSSA) built the reef balls at the Oyster Restoration Center in Shady Side, Md. and at a private site on the Eastern Shore. West Marine and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration provided grant support for building the reef balls and setting the spat.

Reef balls add three-dimensional structure and habitat for aquatic organisms such as mussels, oysters, tunicates, marine worms and myriad other species, which are vital components of the Chesapeake Bay’s food chain. Finfish species such as striped bass, flounder, croaker, spot, sea bass and others, then utilize these habitats for food and shelter.

For more information on Maryland’s artificial reef initiative, visit dnr.state.md.us/fisheries/reefs/ or the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s restoration efforts go to cbf.org

source: MD DNR

A new NOAA “smart buoy” deployed near the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel will help boaters and fishermen in the Chesapeake to check conditions at the mouth of the Bay.

The highly sophisticated buoy is the newest addition to NOAA’s Chesapeake Bay Interpretive Buoy System (CBIBS), a network of buoys that transmit multi-use oceanographic and meteorological data from the bay to weather forecasters, maritime safety personnel, coastal decision makers, and recreational boaters and fishermen.

Managed by NOAA’s Chesapeake Bay Office, CBIBS buoys collect weather, oceanographic and water-quality observations and transmit this data wirelessly in near-real time. These measurements and related educational resources can be accessed at http://buoybay.noaa.gov (http://www.buoybay.noaa.gov/m for mobile devices) and by toll-free phone at 877-BUOY-BAY (877-286-9229).

This information is also available via free Android and iPhone applications. CBIBS uses new technology to make information available for a broad range of research, commercial, and recreational purposes, including assessing the progress of bay restoration.

In addition to weather and water data, users can also use the website and toll free number to learn more about the voyages of Captain John Smith and their encounters with indigenous peoples 400 years ago. Each buoy in the system serves as an educational reference point along the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail, which in addition to education also serves as a mechanism for recreation, and tourism in the Chesapeake Bay region.

The other nine buoys in the network are located at the mouths of the Susquehanna, Patapsco, Severn, Potomac, and Rappahannock Rivers; in the main stem of the bay near Calvert County, Md.; in the Potomac River near Alexandria, Va.; in the James River near Jamestown; and in the Elizabeth River off Norfolk.

source: NOAA

The Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin invites the public to paddle with members on the Potomac River for the Shepherdstown Brunch Trip Sunday, September 11, 2011.

NOTE : The event has been re-scheduled due to water conditions. The make-up date is set for Sunday October, 16 2011.

Spend a day on the Potomac paddling between the shores of Maryland and West Virginia.  The one day Ramble will start mid-morning on Sunday September 11th just below Dam 4 and end in cozy Shepherdstown, W.Va.  Along the way, paddlers will stop for an out-of-boat brunch and a couple of educational programs focusing on watershed issues.

The Potomac River Ramble is a canoeing and kayaking event that features environmental programming, restoration projects, festive meals, meetings with elected officials, and much more.

Novice and experienced paddlers alike enjoy a unique on-the-water experience that builds a strong environmental ethic, while having a lot of fun.  The Ramble aims to elevate awareness of the Potomac River’s importance to the region and to encourage local residents to play an active role in its restoration.

Experience with boats is not necessary.  Guides, food, and transportation will be provided.  Attendees can enjoy Potomac River scenery, presentations, food, camaraderie, and paddling.

For information or to register for the event, visit the River Ramble page on the ICPRB website.