Chesapeake Bay News

Recognizing the challenges facing Maryland’s commercial fishing industry and the Chesapeake Bay’s blue crab population, earlier this year Governor Martin O’Malley worked with members of the General Assembly to secure $3 million in capital funding for projects to help mitigate watermen’s economic losses while also helping to restore the bay.

“Temporarily employing watermen for environmental restoration projects will help preserve Maryland’s fishing industry infrastructure while the Chesapeake Bay’s blue crab population is rebounding,” said Governor Martin O’Malley. “Utlizing their existing skills and equipment, watermen will help us improve more than 1,000 acres of oyster bars.”

The Maryland Watermen’s Association and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources collaboratively developed specific work projects designed to utilize the industry’s existing equipment and skill set. In addition to oyster bar rehabilitation projects, land-based job opportunities are also available in order to accommodate individuals who do not own boats and dredge gear.

“This is a win-win situation, that helps both the watermen and the Chesapeake Bay,” said Larry Simms, Maryland Watermen’s Association. “It’s great that the Governor worked with us to help some of this restoration work get done utilizing watermen manpower.”

Every year, the Chesapeake Bay loses 2,600 acres of hard bottom oyster habitat. Watermen and women with boats and dredge equipment will remove silt and sediment from the tops of once historically healthy oyster bars in order to prepare them for a natural spat set and/or hatchery seed planting. Restoration of state-managed oyster bars (sanctuaries and reserves) will begin in mid-November.

“Rehabilitating oyster bars is a multi-step process. Without natural shell to use as substrate, using watermen to remove sediment build-up from these relic oyster reefs is a needed and cost effective alternative,” said Stephan Abel, Executive Director of the Oyster Recovery Partnership, the non-profit organization that will coordinate the watermen and women’s work.

Maryland watermen interested in participating in water and land-based job opportunities must apply by Friday, Oct. 31. Interested watermen and women may obtain an application online at http://www.dnr.maryland.gov/oyster/ or by calling 866-952-3305. Initial selection preference will be given to qualified Maryland watermen who actively crabbed in 2008.

Earlier this year, the O’Malley/Brown Administration coordinated historic action with Virginia Governor Timothy M. Kaine to rebuild the Chesapeake Bay’s beleaguered blue crab population by reducing the harvest of ecologically valuable female blue crabs by 34 percent in 2008. After receiving a request from Governors O’Malley and Kaine, the U.S. Department of Commerce granted a disaster declaration for Chesapeake Bay watermen and women who have suffered economic hardships due to the low and unstable blue crab abundance. Maryland’s Congressional delegation, under the leadership of Senator Barbara Mikulski, worked to support the State’s request for the disaster declaration and ensure that funding in the consolidated federal appropriations package that became law on September 30, 2008. Release of these funds is anticipated through the U.S. Department of Commerce.

For more information about Maryland’s efforts to rebuild the Chesapeake Bay’s blue crab population visit http://www.dnr.maryland.gov/dnrnews/infocus/blue_crab.asp.

Governor Martin O’Malley pledged support for Maryland’s Congressional Delegation and thanked the Department of Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez for his federal fishery disaster declaration for the Chesapeake Bay blue crab.

O’Malley stated, “We are grateful to Senators Mikulski and Cardin, and our congressional delegation for their leadership in working with the Department of Commerce to secure this critical designation for Maryland’s watermen.  Maryland’s blue crab and the traditional fishing industry that it supports face difficult times and the federal funding accompanying the disaster designation will help to preserve the infrastructure of Maryland’s hallmark blue crab fishery, and ensure an active fishery for the future.

This declaration not only helps restore the blue crab population, but it also ensures that the livelihood of our State’s watermen continues to be sustained. While we work with the industry on the State level to rebuild stocks and restructure the fishery, this federal action will help sustain the livelihoods of Maryland’s watermen, whose work is so vital to Maryland’s economy.”

Earlier this year, the O’Malley/Brown Administration coordinated historic action with Virginia Governor Timothy M. Kaine to rebuild the Chesapeake Bay’s beleaguered blue crab population by reducing the harvest of ecologically valuable female blue crabs by 34 percent in 2008.  In May 2008, Governors O’Malley and Kaine requested a disaster assistance evaluation from NOAA‘s National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) for Chesapeake Bay watermen and women who have suffered economic hardships due to the extremely low and unstable blue crab abundance.

Finding that due to adverse environmental conditions including habitat loss, water quality decline, an overabundance of native and non-native predators, and decimation of key blue crab prey, economic losses to the region’s blue crab fishing industry have accumulated over the last decade, the U.S. Department of Commerce declared a state of disaster for the fishery.

The following message from VMRC should be of interest to anyone that is in favor of restoring the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

We’re looking to form a flotilla one morning next month for an hour.

John M.R. Bull
Director of Public Relations
Virginia Marine Resources Commission
(757) 247-2269

A new website shares examples of best management practices that farmers use to produce healthy crops and protect water quality in the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. Homeowners can apply these same conservation measures to home, lawn, and garden projects.

In response the the program. Governor Martin O’Malley remarked: “Farmers like homeowners and all residents of the Chesapeake Bay watershed play an important role in protecting our soil and water resources. “It is a priority of the O’Malley-Brown Administration to protect the health of the Bay for all to enjoy and to strengthen the family farms that anchor our rural communities and economies, preserve open productive land, and provide a local source of food. Farmers are strong partners in conservation.”

The project was constructed through a Maryland Agricultural Education and Rural Development Assistance Fund grant from the Rural Maryland Council.

For details see: http://www.iwantmarylandsbest.com/

Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (CBNERR) recently completed a five-year management plan that sets goals to expand the boundaries of Maryland’s three reserves, develop an environmental education center, and increase environmental stewardship and sustainable living through scientific research, environmental literacy and coastal management training for local decision-makers and stakeholders.

“The Chesapeake Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve’s updated plan represents a commitment to research, education and stewardship that is exceptionally valuable to protecting and restoring Maryland’s, and the nation’s estuaries,” said Frank Dawson, Maryland Department of Natural Resources Assistant Secretary. “Our coastal training program plays a crucial role in providing scientific information to Chesapeake Bay decision-makers as we work to best address and better plan for population growth, land development and climate change.”

The Chesapeake Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve in Maryland has three sites —Otter Point Creek in Harford County, Jug Bay in Prince George’s and Anne Arundel Counties, and Monie Bay in Somerset County. Partnering with local governments and non-profit conservation organizations, CBNERR hopes to add 1,345 acres Jug Bay Estuarine Research Reserve by incorporating the Jug Bay Wetlands Sanctuary in Anne Arundel and Prince George’s County, as well as adding 32 acres to Otter Point Creek in Harford County.

CBNERR’s top priority at the Monie Bay Reserve is to increase opportunities for public access and environmental education by purchasing property for an environmental education center. Currently students in Somerset County, where Monie Bay is located, have no access to any private or public environmental education center. In addition to creating a new environmental education facility, CBNERR aims to increase effective environmental education to underserved populations so that more Marylanders change their personal behavior and serve as leaders to promote sound, informed, science-based decision-making throughout the community. CBNERR will also continue to work to increase environmental literacy with teachers, students, and communities to increase their connection to nature so that they will take action better its protection and restoration.

Many aspects of the 1990 management plan have been realized, most notably, the completion of the Anita C. Leight Center in Harford County, which provides classrooms, lab space, exhibit space and office space, and has allowed the implementation of research, education and volunteer activity at the Otter Point Creek component of the Reserve.

One of 27 National Estuarine Research Reserves around the nation, CBNERR protects and restores approximately 5,000 acres of forest, farm and wetlands; conducts research and monitoring; educates visitors; runs coastal training programs for decision-makers; and enables affordable public recreation opportunities. The Reserve’s mission is to improve coastal resource management by increasing scientific understanding of estuarine systems and making estuarine research relevant, meaningful, and accessible to managers and stakeholders.

Cutting edge research performed at the Reserves helps to protect and restore the Chesapeake Bay. Recent research includes exploring methods for reducing excess nutrient pollution from agricultural waste and investigating the environmental impacts and potential mitigation of sea level rise.

CBNERR is a Federal-State-Local partnership program, and receives funds annually from NOAA, DNR and Harford County. Operation of the Reserve would not be possible without local partners who assist by providing land, facilities, staff and volunteers, including Anne Arundel County (Jug Bay Wetlands Sanctuary), Maryland-National Park and Planning Commission (Jug Bay Natural Area), Friends of Jug Bay, Harford County (Anita C. Leight Estuary Center), and the Harford County Chapter of the Izaak Walton League of America (Bosely Conservancy).

For more information visit http://www.dnr.state.md.us/bay/cbnerr/.

Underwater bay grasses covered nearly 65,000 acres of the Chesapeake Bay and its tidal rivers in 2007, about 35 percent of the 185,000-acre baywide restoration goal, according to data from scientists with the Chesapeake Bay Program. Though a 10 percent increase from 59,000 acres in 2006, bay grasses have not yet recovered to the recent high of 90,000 acres in 2002.

Bay grasses — also called submerged aquatic vegetation or SAV — are critical to the Bay ecosystem because they provide habitat and nursery grounds for fish and blue crabs, trap sediments, absorb excess nutrients and reduce shoreline erosion. Bay grasses are also an excellent measure of the Bay’s overall condition because they are not under harvest pressure and their health is closely linked to water quality.

“While we saw a slight increase in SAV baywide in 2007 — due in part to increases in the very large and dense beds in the upper Bay and upper Potomac River — overall there is concern about SAV in many areas because of declining water clarity,” said Bob Orth, scientist with the Virginia Institute of Marine Science and leader of the SAV baywide annual survey.

In the upper Bay zone (from the Chesapeake Bay Bridge north), bay grasses covered about 19,000 acres, 80 percent of the 23,630-acre goal and an increase from about 15,500 acres in 2006. The massive grass bed on the Susquehanna Flats, which is now visible on satellite images, dominated this zone. Bay grasses in the Flats increased from 8,743 acres in 2006 to 11,726 acres in 2007, 97 percent of the restoration goal for that segment. However, much of the rest of the upper Bay zone had little grasses, particularly on the Eastern Shore from the Sassafras River to the Chester River.

In the middle Bay zone (from the Chesapeake Bay Bridge to the Potomac River), bay grass acreage decreased slightly to about 30,000 acres, 26 percent of the 115,229-acre restoration goal. Grass beds remained reasonably robust in the Severn, upper Patuxent and upper Potomac rivers. Bay grasses in the upper Potomac River increased from 4,234 acres in 2006 to 6,246 acres in 2007, exceeding Maryland and Virginia’s restoration goals for that area. However, grasses in the lower central Bay in Virginia decreased from 2,017 acres in 2006 to 1,342 acres in 2007.

Unusually high salinities due to dry conditions during summer 2007 may have contributed to declines in the Chester and Magothy rivers and in Eastern Bay, where bay grass acreage fell from 565 acres in 2006 to 80 acres in 2007. Low river flows during drought conditions allow saltier waters to move up from the Atlantic, negatively impacting certain bay grass species that are adapted to growing in fresher waters.

In the lower Bay zone (from the Potomac River south), researchers mapped about 16,000 acres of grasses — an increase from a record low of 13,000 acres in 2006 and 35 percent of the 46,030-acre restoration goal. Many beds dominated by eelgrass, which dramatically died back during the hot summer of 2005, showed some modest recovery in 2007. Grass beds in the eastern lower Bay, for example, increased from 3,740 acres in 2006 to 5,134 acres in 2007 — still far short of the 15,107-acre goal for this segment.

“The overall picture for eelgrass — one of the two dominant SAV species in the lower Bay zone — remains bleak due to multiple stressors, including declining water clarity, warmer summertime temperatures and cownose rays,” said Orth.

Bay grasses continue to show a strong presence in many of the low-salinity and freshwater areas in the lower Bay zone, such as the Mattaponi, Pamunkey and Chickahominy rivers and creeks off the upper mainstem James River. These tributary segments are far enough from the Bay that the drought did not raise their salinity enough to cause diebacks of the low-salinity grass species that grow there.

“Over the past five to 10 years we have witnessed large increases of SAV in many of the freshwater tributaries and segments of the Bay,” said Lee Karrh, scientist with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and chair of the Bay Program’s SAV Workgroup. “However, middle- and high-salinity areas, such as Eastern Bay and Tangier Sound, are well below their peaks.”

Because of their importance to the Bay ecosystem, in 2003 Bay Program partners committed to protect and restore 185,000 acres of bay grasses by 2010.

Annual bay grass acreage estimates are an indication of the Bay’s response to pollution control efforts, such as implementation of agricultural best management practices (BMPs) and upgrades to wastewater treatment plants. Bay watershed residents can do their part to help bay grasses by reducing their use of lawn fertilizers, which contribute excess nutrients to local waterways and the Bay, and participating with their local tributary teams or watershed organizations.

Bay managers are supplementing pollution reduction efforts with experimental bay grass plantings where predicted improvements in water quality would support bay grasses where none currently exist. These newly planted grasses act as seed sources which, in turn, produce more grass beds as water quality improves.

Bay grasses acreage is estimated through an aerial survey, which is flown from late spring to early fall. For additional information about the aerial survey and survey results, go to www.vims.edu/bio/sav/.

source: MD DNR press release

On April 24, 2008, Governor Martin O’Malley joined Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr., House Speaker Michael E. Busch, Lieutenant Governor Anthony G. Brown, to sign legislation to protect Maryland’s environment and the health of the Chesapeake Bay, and help secure Maryland’s energy future.

“We must do all that we can to preserve our natural resources and secure Maryland’s energy future,” said Governor Martin O’Malley. “I want to thank the General Assembly in working together this session to pass legislation that continues to make Maryland a national leader in protecting the environment. With today’s bills, we are creating a sustainable energy policy, securing relief for thousands of Maryland ratepayers through a global settlement with Constellation energy, protecting our environment and helping to restore the Chesapeake Bay for future generations.”

“Maryland ratepayers will see over one billion in liability relief as a result of the hard work during the 2008 legislative session,” said Speaker Michael E. Busch. “The legislation that we are signing today is good for the environment, good for the economy and good for the consumer: protecting the Chesapeake Bay, promoting green technology and reducing energy consumption.”

Governor O’Malley signed into law legislation that updates and strengthens Maryland’s critical areas law to ensure more adequate protection of the most environmentally sensitive and significant lands within Maryland’s Chesapeake and Coastal Bays watersheds.  The Critical Areas law will restore the Critical Area Commission’s regulatory authority to operate with the same authority as every other agency of State government; significantly strengthen enforcement; provide stronger protection of water quality and wildlife habitats; establish new procedures for processing variances; and require updating of the Critical Area boundary — which has not been adjusted since 1972.  The 1984 critical areas law designated all land within 1,000 feet of the edge of tidal waters and wetlands as “critical area.”  Sixty-four local jurisdictions including 16 counties and 48 municipalities comprise land within the critical area.

“Governor O’Malley continues to showcase the leadership that will save our Bay and make our growth sustainable for future generations, “said Lt. Governor Anthony Brown.  “The legislation being signed today will serve as a national example of what states can do to improve the health and sustainability of our environment.”

Among the bills signed today was legislation that secures a nearly $2 billion global settlement with Constellation Energy Group for Maryland ratepayers and families and ends Maryland ratepayers’ obligations for decommissioning nuclear power facilities at Calvert Cliffs, saving Maryland ratepayers $1.5 billion in future costs.  Ratepayers were projected to begin payments of $33 million annually from 2016 through 2036.  As a result of this settlement, Constellation Energy Group will be liable for these costs.  Under the terms of the agreement, Baltimore Gas & Electric residential ratepayers will receive a one-time “rate rebate” of approximately $170 by the end of the year.  This refund amounts to $187 million in rate relief for Maryland’s families and represents a more than 10% reduction in this year’s total bill for more than 50% of all BGE customers – over 580,000 ratepayers.

“Today is a big win for the Governor. He delivered on his promise to the BGE ratepayers and he has laid the groundwork for years of future savings for all citizens through energy efficiency. No one state Governor can stop global energy prices from going up,” said Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller, Jr. “But Governor O’Malley has done more than any of us thought was possible. I was very pleased that he accomplished all of this while also making great strides in protecting and restoring the Chesapeake Bay.”

In addition, Governor O’Malley signed into law legislation that helps secure our energy future including bills that:

Establish the Maryland Strategic Energy Investment Fund and the Maryland Strategic Investment Program to promote affordable, reliable, and clean energy;

Invest in sustainable energy by increasing the percentage of requirements of the Renwable Energy Portfolio Standard (RPS) to 20% in 2022 and beyond;

Encourages Marylanders to invest in clean energy systems for their homes by increasing specified grant limits under the Solar Energy and Geothermal Heat Pump grant programs, and creating tax incentives for solar energy geothermal equipment, etc.;

Establishes green building standards for new and renovated State buildings and new school buildings;

Establishes the State goal of achieving a 15% reduction in per capita electricity consumption and peak demand by the end of 2015 through the EmPOWER Maryland Energy Efficiency initiative.

The Maryland Artificial Reef Initiative celebrates completion of “Dominion Reef at the Gooses,” an 80-acre reef made from concrete from the Woodrow Wilson Bridge.

A water cannon will be used to disperse more than 70 tons of oyster shell and brood oysters to help establish an ecosystem on the newly created artificial reef. Media will be able to shoot and photograph the event from a large, comfortable boat that will make the trip to the reef.

Placement of concrete sections from the old Woodrow Wilson Bridge will create deep water artificial reefs that provide excellent habitat for benthic organisms and fish.

The event will occur on Friday, March 28 at 10:15 a.m.
The boat departs from Chesapeake Beach for the reef.
Please call 804-771-6115 to confirm attendance and ensure a seat on the boat.

The location of the boat departure is:

Chesapeake Beach Resort and Spa
4165 Mears Avenue
Chesapeake Beach, MD (Calvert County)

Attending will be Maryland Secretary of Natural Resources John R. Griffin and Dominion Vice President Pamela Faggert

Chesapeake Bay Organizations

Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay

Chesapeake Bay Foundation

The Chesapeake Bay Trust

Magothy River Association

Oyster Recovery Partnership

Tidewater Oyster Gardeners Association

American Littoral Society

American Fisheries Society

Recreational Boat & Fishing Foundation

National Fishing and Boating Week

Take Me Fishing

Wish a Fish Foundation

Virginia Waterman’s Memorial

On February 14, 2007, Governor Martin O’Malley created BayStat by executive order. Based on the CitiStat program created by the Governor in Baltimore six years ago.

Initially, BayStat’s mission was to monitor 39 programs that the State of Maryland is implementing which are identified in the Tributary Strategies program. These include a wide variety of agricultural best management practices, improvements to point sources (such as upgrades to waste water treatment plants), runoff from urban lands, and added protections to Chesapeake Bay streams and shorelines. The goal is to address all these issues by June 2008.

BayStat states that a secondary stage of the program will oversee other Bay related programs such as fish and wildlife management, dredge material disposal, and sea level rise.

BayStat is funding is affected by the Chesapeake Bay 2010 Trust Fund. Lawmakers are currently working allocate the money for Bay restoration. “If we don’t focus this on key, cost-effective practices … we’re not going to change the landscape” of the Bay, Department of Natural Resources Secretary John Griffin said to a Senate committee.