Chesapeake Bay News

The 2010 Chesapeake Bay Blue Crab Advisory Report, while noting that blue crabs appear to be making a comeback in the Chesapeake, recommends that the jurisdictions that manage the fishery keep conservation measures in place.

In early 2010, surveys estimate roughly 315 million harvestable (adult crabs 1+ years old) within the Chesapeake, an impressive 41 percent increase from 2009 numbers. The blue crab population rebuilding goal (200 million harvestable crabs) set by the Chesapeake Bay Stock Assessment Committee (CBSAC) has been surpassed for two years in a row, but two years is not enough time to know if these numbers can be maintained over the long term.

“The 2010 numbers show continuation of a positive sign that crab populations in the Chesapeake Bay are rebounding,” said Peyton Robertson, director of the NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office. “Living resource managers in the bay have made a commitment to working together and to using the best science available to manage blue crab stocks in the bay, and their efforts are paying off.”

Crab populations in the Bay hovered near historic lows for much of the last decade due to over exploitation, pollution, and reduced habitat. But this iconic crustacean is making a comeback—thanks in part to coordinated management efforts across bay jurisdictions in 2008 to reduce female harvest. However, the report notes that conservation measures need to continue to be maintained over time for their full effects to be studied.

The Blue Crab Advisory Report, developed by the Chesapeake Bay Stock Assessment Committee and reviewed by the Executive Committee of the Sustainable Fisheries Goal Implementation Team, is based primarily on data collected in the 2009-10 bay-wide winter dredge survey, the most comprehensive and statistically robust annual blue crab survey conducted in the bay. The data shows:

* Harvestable blue crabs, those over the age of one year, increased by 41 percent from the 2009 estimate to 315 million. This was primarily due to an increase in abundance of spawning-age females. Since the winter dredge survey began in 1990, the average blue crab population in the bay has been 192 million.

* Bay-wide, numbers of juvenile crabs entering the population doubled from last year’s estimated 179 million juvenile crabs to 345 million. The long-term average is 260 million.

* An estimated 43 percent of crabs were harvested from the bay by commercial and recreational fishers in 2009. The harvest restrictions put in place in 2008 and 2009 have maintained harvest at sustainable levels that appear to have allowed the population of blue crabs to grow.

* The estimated 2009 harvest of blue crabs from the bay and tributaries was 53.9 million pounds—24 percent higher than the record-low 43.5 million pounds in 2007, but well below the long-term average of 74 million pounds.

“The 2010 advisory report contains good news for Chesapeake Bay blue crabs and the associated fisheries,” noted Lynn Fegley of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, current chair of the Chesapeake Bay Stock Assessment Committee. “The 2009 fishery did not exceed the target removal level and there is an increased abundance of adult and juvenile crabs to start the 2010 season. Going forward, it will be critical for the management jurisdictions to continue management strategies that ensure that exploitation on the spawning component of the stock remains within safe limits.”

The recently released “Strategy for Protection and Restoring the Chesapeake Bay Watershed” affirms NOAA’s support for continued regional blue crab management. Using the latest science, NOAA will continue to work through the Chesapeake Bay Stock Assessment Committee and coordinate with the states and the Potomac River Fisheries Commission to reevaluate the blue crab interim rebuilding target by 2012. The new abundance target will be based on an updated blue crab stock assessment to be completed in 2011 and will help guide future management actions.

The Chesapeake Bay Stock Assessment Committee includes fisheries scientists from the University of Maryland, Virginia Institute of Marine Science, Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, NOAAs Fisheries, and the states of Maryland and Virginia.

The Executive Committee of the Sustainable Fisheries Goal Team is composed of senior fisheries managers from across the Chesapeake Bay and focuses on facilitating fisheries management that encourages sustainable Chesapeake Bay fish populations, supports viable recreational and commercial fisheries, and promotes natural ecosystem function. The Sustainable Fisheries Goal Team provides the forum to discuss fishery management issues that cross state and other jurisdictional boundaries and better connect sound science to management decision making.

The NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office focuses NOAA’s capabilities in science, service, and stewardship to protect and restore the Chesapeake Bay.

The Blue Crab Advisory Report and supporting figures are available at:

http://chesapeakebay.noaa.gov/fish-facts/blue-crab

source: NOAA press release

In May, 2010, The NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office deployed a “smart buoy” in the Potomac River, just south of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge. The buoy is the newest in NOAA’s Chesapeake Bay Interpretive Buoy System (CBIBS), a network that provides scientists, boaters, and educators with real-time data about the Bay.

CBIBS buoys collect weather, oceanographic and water-quality observations and transmit this data wirelessly in near-real time. These measurements, along with historical information, can be accessed at www.buoybay.org (www.buoybay.org/m for mobile devices) and by phone at 877-BUOY-BAY (877-286-9229). CBIBS uses new technology to make information available for a broad range of measurements, including bay restoration progress. Online educational resources are also available.

Buoys in the system also mark points along the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail, which highlights the natural history of the Bay.  The trail also provides opportunities for recreation, education, and tourism in the Chesapeake Bay region, and encourages stewardship of the bay.

“We are pleased that NOAA and the National Park Service continue to expand their innovative approach to combining scientific research support for the Chesapeake Bay with interpretive services for the public,” said John Maounis, superintendent of the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail. “With this eighth smart buoy on the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail, boaters and paddlers through this treasured landscape can learn more about Captain Smith’s visit here to the upper Potomac.”

This is the eighth buoy in the CBIBS system. Buoys deployed earlier are located at the mouths of the Susquehanna, Patapsco, Severn, Potomac, and Rappahannock Rivers, in the James River near Jamestown, and the Elizabeth River off Norfolk.

As summer nears and some 12.5 million registered boaters hit the water, NOAA’s Office of Coast Survey is launching an effort to remind people about the importance of using up-to-date nautical charts. NOAA is a co-sponsor of the newly formed Alliance for Safe Navigation, a public-private partnership that raises awareness of safe boating practices and offers an instructional Web site to get people started.

“Recreational boaters, unlike commercial mariners, are not required to carry nautical charts,” explains Captain John Lowell, director of NOAA’s Office of Coast Survey. “We are sponsoring this new nationwide educational effort because we want people to understand that NOAA’s nautical charts are easy to find and easy to use. By using ‘Print on Demand’ paper charts or multi-functional electronic charts that are updated by NOAA cartographers, people have a better chance of avoiding potential groundings and other accidents.”

Charts can become outdated quickly because storms may alter seafloors, with shoals building up and water depths changing. NOAA conducts hydrographic surveys along U.S. coasts, measuring ocean depths and recording seafloor shifts. The agency uses the survey information to continually update nautical charts.

Joining NOAA in the Alliance for Safe Navigation are the Boat Owners Association of the United States (Boat U.S.), Jeppesen Marine, the United States Power Squadrons (USPS), OceanGrafix and the Sea Tow Foundation for Boating Safety and Education. The Alliance for Safe Navigation will encourage boaters to be aware of the significant and frequent changes that are occurring in their boating area.

As the nation’s official nautical chartmaker, NOAA maintains a suite of 2,000 navigation products that support safe recreational boating and marine transportation along coastal waterways and in the Great Lakes. NOAA and other alliance members provide many tools that give mariners the latest information, distributing a range of products such as print-on-demand paper charts and digital updates for electronic charts.

“The alliance members identified a widespread lack of awareness among boaters regarding the accuracy of their charts, whether electronic or paper,” explains David DeGree, president of OceanGrafix. “The truth is that inaccurate chart information can turn a safe and enjoyable cruise into a dangerous situation.”

source: NOAA

NOAA has awarded the Smithsonian Institution’s Environmental Research Center and several partner organizations $946,000 for the first year of an anticipated five-year, $5 million collaborative project to study the degradation of nearshore coastal habitats in the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays. Research will be used by environmental managers and local officials to better protect and restore these estuaries over the long-term, as well as plan for sea level rise and other consequences of climate change.

Invasive species, contaminants, excessive nutrients and sediment are just some of the many factors threatening sensitive wetlands and seagrass beds. An additional issue has been community efforts to “harden” shorelines by lining shores with bulkhead, rock, or rubble to try to protect adjoining lands against erosion and sea level rise. These structures can threaten the health of living shorelines, such as wetlands and marshes. This project will look at the combined effects of these multiple stresses on nearshore habitats and their dependent species.

“These habitats, which are nursery and feeding grounds for so many species, have typically been managed in a piecemeal, parcel-by-parcel fashion and are slipping away in areas of heavy development,” said Robert Magnien, Ph.D., and director of the NOAA National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science’s Center for Sponsored Coastal Ocean Research, which awarded the grant. “Developing scientific information that ties multiple species and their environment will be used to advance management approaches.”

The Smithsonian Institution’s Environmental Research Center will lead a team of investigators from the Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences, the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, the University of Delaware, Pennsylvania State University, and the United States Geological Survey. Area coastal managers are also part of the research team and will provide input. Program managers from NOAA’s National Ocean Service will provide oversight.

The research supports President Obama’s Executive Order for Chesapeake Bay Protection and Restoration, which specifically calls for strengthening scientific support for decision-making to protect and restore living resources and water quality of the Chesapeake Bay and its watershed. It also relates to a major goal of the Mid-Atlantic Governor’s Agreement and multi-state Chesapeake Bay Agreement to preserve, protect and restore habitats and natural areas that are vital to the survival and diversity of the living resources of the Bay.

Agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency, the Army Corps of Engineers, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Virginia Marine Resources Commission and the NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office will utilize information resulting from this research. In a letter of support for the proposed research, Rich Batiuk of the EPA said that this program will “address critical issues related to habitat degradation, invasive species, and shoreline hardening. All of these ecosystem impacts are recognized in the Chesapeake 2000 agreement, and therefore are critical concerns to Chesapeake Bay Program partnership.”

“Developing the science for understanding the combined effects of shoreline hardening on water quality, underwater grasses, fish and shellfish will help support policy for accelerating Bay restoration,” stated Maryland Department of Natural Resources Secretary John Griffin. “Maryland is firmly committed to making management decisions based on sound science. This project will provide the practical information for driving wetland restoration and managing development in Maryland’s critical areas.”

The mid-Atlantic region is only one area where shoreline hardening is seen as an important issue. The results of this research can potentially be extrapolated to hardened shorelines in other coastal states.

The Smithsonian Environmental Research Center leads the nation in research on linkages of land and water ecosystems in the coastal zone and provides society with knowledge to meet critical environmental challenges in the 21st century.

source: NOAA press release

While the overall crab population in the Chesapeake Bay rebounded significantly last year, the number of juvenile crabs remained well below the historical average, according to a report published by the NOAA-chaired Fisheries Steering Committee.

“New regulations implemented by the various bay jurisdictions in 2008 seem to be working,” said Peyton Robertson, director of the NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office. “The continued improvements in science and their application to management appear to be resulting in a
positive direction for the blue crab in the Chesapeake.”

The 2009 Chesapeake Bay Blue Crab Advisory Report, developed by the Chesapeake Bay Stock Assessment Committee, is based primarily on data collected in the 2008-09 bay-wide winter dredge survey, the most comprehensive and statistically robust annual blue crab survey
conducted in the bay.

The data shows:

Abundance of blue crabs over the age of one was 223 million, a 70 percent increase from the 2007-08 survey numbers. This was primarily due to an increase in abundance of spawning-age females. Since the winter dredge survey began in 1990, the average blue crab population in the bay has been 186 million.

Bay-wide, numbers of juvenile crabs entering the population did not increase appreciably. There were an estimated 179 million juvenile crabs in the bay—well below the survey’s long-term average of 258 million.

The estimated 2008 harvest of blue crabs from the bay and tributaries was 48.6 million pounds—11 percent higher than the record-low 43.5 million pounds in 2007, but well below the long-term average of 74 million pounds.

Based on these statistics, an estimated 48 percent of crabs were harvested from the bay by commercial and recreational fishers in 2008. That is below the overfishing threshold of 53 percent, but slightly above the target of 46 percent.

“While it is heartening to see numbers rebound, resource managers need to maintain conservation measures until their full effects are known,” Robertson said. “We won’t know the full effectiveness of the new regulations implemented in 2008 until we study results from the next two winter dredge surveys.”

The Chesapeake Bay Stock Assessment Committee includes fisheries scientists from the University of Maryland, Virginia Institute of Marine Science, Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, NOAA’s Fisheries Service and the states of Maryland and Virginia. The Fisheries Steering Committee works with the various bay management jurisdictions and is a forum where fisheries management agencies communicate and coordinate decisions across management boundaries.

NOAA has announced the deployment of a new state-of-the-art research vessel, R/V Bay Hydro II, which will collect oceanographic data in the Chesapeake Bay region – data critical to safe navigation and environmental protection in the nation’s largest estuary. The dedication took place in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, featuring a ceremonial breaking of a champagne bottle over the bow and a cannon salute from the USS Constellation. “R/V Bay Hydro II serves as NOAA’s ‘eyes’ to the seafloor of the Chesapeake Bay,” said Mary Glackin, deputy under secretary for oceans and atmosphere. “Since human eyes can’t see to the seafloor, R/V Bay Hydro II’s state-of-the-art equipment ensures NOAA can continue providing the nation with timely and accurate charts and quality science.” Information collected by the vessel will be used to update NOAA nautical charts and help coastal managers, biologists, planners and policymakers better understand the Chesapeake Bay, which is a major transportation artery in the U.S.’s maritime transportation system. The Chesapeake provides access to four of the nation’s busiest commercial seaports in cargo volume: Hampton Roads, Va., (14th), Baltimore (18th), Philadelphia (24th), and Wilmington, Del. (59th).These seaports link to major rail and interstate hubs, which allow for delivery of manufactured goods, petroleum and coal to the interior regions of the Midwest, Southeast and Northeast. “The R/V Bay Hydro II and NOAA’s other survey vessels are critical to seaports like Baltimore,” said Captain Eric Nielsen, president of the Association of Maryland Pilots. “On short notice, they can determine if obstructions caused by hurricanes, ice or sunken vessels are blocking the shipping channels. Failure to quickly determine channel status would hamper and/or suspend deep-draft navigation service to the Port of Baltimore.” The bay’s shoreline, including its islands and tidal wetlands, spans over 11,600 miles — more shoreline than the West Coast of the United States. R/V Bay Hydro II’s mission is critical to ensuring commercial ships and recreational boaters can safely travel to and from mid-Atlantic ports, marinas and docks. “The data collected by vessels like the R/V Bay Hydro II is essential to our dredged material management program, ensuring that we can keep the channels safe for ships to journey to and from the Port of Baltimore,” said Frank Hamons, deputy director for harbor development for the Maryland Port Administration. “Information collected by this vessel will allow us to continue serving two-thirds of U.S. consumers, and remain one of Maryland’s key economic generators.” R/V Bay Hydro II also will serve as a hydrographic emergency response unit in the Chesapeake, equipped to provide emergency survey assistance following an Atlantic hurricane or shipping accident that threatens the normal flow of maritime commerce. Delays in shipping costs the economy billions of dollars each year and prevents supplies from being delivered to hard-hit regions. R/V Bay Hydro II, three large NOAA survey ships, and six mobile navigation response boats comprise NOAA’s hydrographic fleet. More information about R/V Bay Hydro II and other survey platforms may be found on NOAA’s Office of Coast Survey Web site.

While the nation as a whole gained freshwater wetlands from 1998 to 2004, a new report by NOAA and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service documents a continuing loss of coastal wetlands in the eastern United States.

The new report, Status and Trends of Wetlands in the Coastal Watersheds of the Eastern United States, shows a loss of 59,000 acres each year in the coastal watersheds of the Great Lakes, Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico from 1998 to 2004.

“This report shows the nation’s need to expand the effort to conserve and rebuild valuable coastal wetlands,” said Jim Balsiger, acting NOAA assistant administrator for NOAA’s Fisheries Service. “Coastal wetlands are nurseries for important commercial and recreational fish and are vital to many threatened and endangered species. They also provide natural protection to coastal communities from the most damaging effects of hurricanes and storm surges.”

One reason wetland loss is concentrated in coastal watersheds is that with large numbers of people living here – more than half of the nation’s population lives in coastal counties in densities five times greater than inland counties – the building of roads, homes and businesses have accelerated wetlands loss, particularly along the Gulf of Mexico. Wetland restoration is also more difficult in coastal areas where land values are high and factors such as storms and large expanses of soft muddy ground hamper restoration efforts.

The report contains a case study from Florida’s St. Vincent Island that illustrates the challenges of restoring coastal wetlands, but also shows the enormous benefits including opening up areas for public recreation as well as habitat for fish, turtles, shorebirds and other wildlife.

“We are concerned by the findings of this report because coastal wetlands provide essential habitat for many migratory bird, fish, and endangered species,” said Rowan Gould, acting director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “The high rate of coastal wetlands losses is even more alarming when we consider the anticipated stresses that climate change will bring to our coasts in the future. We look forward to working with federal and non-federal partners to stop this trend and achieve no net loss of coastal wetlands.”

NOAA and FWS are discussing with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and other interested groups how to best respond to the alarming loss of coastal wetlands outlined in the new report. “Our coastal wetlands are ecological treasures that help protect shorelines and infrastructure in areas where more than half of Americans live,” said Michael Shapiro, acting assistant administrator for water at EPA. “This report emphasizes the need for action to protect these valuable resources.”

Status and Trends of Wetlands in the Coastal Watersheds of the Eastern United States, 1998 to 2004 is available online at http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/habitat. The next national five-year study on wetlands will include the Pacific coast as well as the eastern United States.

source: NOAA press release