The Chesapeake Bay score decreased in 2018, but maintained a C grade, according to the 2018 Chesapeake Bay Report Card issued by the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES). The decrease was due to extremely high precipitation last … Continued
The NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office (NCBO) recently released its Biennial Report to Congress and is available to the public. The report describes how the NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office, a division within the Office of Habitat Conservation at NOAA Fisheries, leads … Continued
Results of the 2019 Blue Crab Winter Dredge Survey indicate that the Bay-wide blue crab population increased 60 percent from last year, to an estimated total population of 594 million crabs. The rise in adult abundance of blue crabs was … Continued
The Chesapeake Monitoring Cooperative (CMC) recently unveiled a new website (chesapeakemonitoringcoop.org). The online cooperative provides a platform to share CMC services and resources that have been developed over the past three years and are freely available. The CMC brings together … Continued
In order to quantify the ecosystem benefits provided by restored oyster reefs, the NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office (NCBO) initiated the Oyster Reef Ecosystem Services (ORES) project. In September 2015, the NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office released a document highlighting progress under … Continued
The Conowingo Dam on the Susquehanna River is at about 92 percent capacity for sediment storage according to new U.S. Geological Survey research. Since the dam’s construction in 1929, sediment and nutrients have been building up behind it, being … Continued
A new website and smartphone app will help Maryland-area anglers collect and share data about Chesapeake Bay sport fish. Chesapeake Catch is a project led by Maryland-area anglers to gather voluntary information from all anglers to better inform themselves and … Continued
The reservoir behind the Conowingo Dam is trapping smaller amounts of sediment and has essentially reached its limit to trap in the long term, according to a Lower Susquehanna River Watershed Assessment. However, a large majority of the pollution to … Continued
Communities and coastal habitats in the southern Chesapeake Bay region could face increased flooding because, as seawater levels are rising in the bay, the land surface is also sinking, according to a new USGS report. The report cites intensive groundwater … Continued
A reservior of high-salinity groundwater found more than 1,000 meters (0.6 mi.) deep under the Chesapeake Bay is actually remnant water from the Early Cretaceous North Atlantic Sea and is probably 100-145 million years old, according to U.S. Geological Survey … Continued