Some Relief at the Water's Edge

Looks like the General Assembly is poised to grant some much needed relief to our weary shorelines. Rather than continue to allow the rocking (and to a lesser extent, bulkheading) of our shorelines, the new law, requested by MDE, would require shoreline stabilization take the form of "living shorelines", unless "a property owner could prove erosion is so severe that only an armored shoreline will do."

That's great news for the Bay, even though hundreds of miles of of its periphery have already been hardened. Looks like a number of strong environmental bills are going to come out of the 2008 session. I will re-cap them here after the Assembly adjourns.


From L to R: Wooden Bulkhead, Stone Rip Rap, Headland Breakwater with Living Shoreline

Virginia, Maryland Contemplate Restricting Crab Harvest

Both Maryland and Virginia are seriously contemplating major restrictions on crab harvesting in the Bay, and it's not a moment too soon. Let's just hope it's not too late.

Last Year's Crab Harvest Miserable

According to DNR officials, last year's crab harvest is the second lowest in 30 years, about 22 million pounds.

Can anyone say "moratorium?"

Oystered Out

According to the Chesapeake Bay Program, the current population of oysters in the Bay is around 1 percent of where it was when Europeans explored the area in the early 1600s. How did we get from a situation where there were so many oysters in the Chesapeake that they could filter the Bay once every three or four days, to the situation where they can filter it perhaps once or twice a year?

It's a story, like so many others of this sort, of greed, mismanagement, and in the end, a lack of will. Unfortunately, these traits persist in the Bay region to this day. A great little primer I've come across is The Oyster Wars of the Chesapeake Bay by John Wennersten, published in 1981. Several interesting details from the book follow.

In 1884, 15,000,000 bushels of oysters were taken from the Bay, which represented the height of the fishery. (As recently as 2005, it was down to 32,000 bushels).

Did you realize that the aquatic boundary between Maryland and Virginia, east of the Potomac River was largely the product of oyster bar harvesting disputes that had to be settled by the US Supreme Court? And, that watermen on both sides of the border were killed in skirmishes over harvesting rights?

When do you think first State-funded survey of the oyster population in the state took place? 1980? 1950? It was actually 1876, and the Naval Lieutenant who headed up the mission, Francis Winslow, warned then that oysters were being taken from the Bay at a rate far greater than natural reproduction could offset.

We are told that the downfall of the Chesapeake's oysters was disease, Dermo and MSX, but the truth is, disease has been able to sound the death knell for a population that was already ravaged to within an inch of its life by human greed. And yet, after 130 years, we have learned very little. We continue to allow menhaden, crabs, and other aquatic organisms to be taken from the Bay at an unsustainable rate. Will 2008 be the year we finally learn from our mistakes?

The chart below is great source of oyster milestones on the Chesapeake from NOAA [Click to enlarge].

Treating Oysters Like Royalty

Today's Capital reports that a local inventor, Andrew Murdza, has devised a new way to raise oysters to help replenish the Bay's decimated bivalve population. Murdza founded Oyster King several years ago and established a base of operations at Discovery Village in Shady Side.

He is now selling "Oyster Hotels", cages filled with barley straw to help filter contaminants, to house oyster spat and protect them from predators.

Mr. Murdza's initial tests have yielded excellent short term (6 month) survivability and he looks forward to eventually spawning 50 million baby oysters to help re-stock the Bay. His method of growing oysters at the water's surface mimics the well-documented accounts of European settlers who first came upon the Bay. For instance, when Captain John Smith explored the Bay in the early 1600s, oyster reefs broke the water's surface and were often deemed "hazards to navigation." One is left to contemplate not only the role that these massive reefs historically played in oyster propagation, but also in protecting the shoreline from high wave energies.

Curiously, the cost of the Oyster Hotels is $500 apiece, which corresponds exactly to the upper limit the State will reimburse homeowners for placing oyster aquaculture floats on their property. Oyster gardening supplies can be purchased from a wide variety of suppliers. A partial listing can be found here.

Bay Clean-Up Estimates Too Optimistic, If You Can Believe It

A recent analysis of Bay pollution reduction models by the Chesapeake Bay Program (CBP) found that half (18) over-estimated progress, most of the rest (15) were accurate, and a few more (3) under-estimated progress. I suspect this isn't much of a surprise to anyone who has spent any prolonged length of time around the Bay in the last decade or so. Despite undeniable and important advances (e.g, the flush fee), the region continues to grow astronomically, with ever-changing consequences.

The Program models seem to be relatively accurate in the case of point source pollution (e.g., sewage treatment plants), where a discrete discharge can be easily measured, but pollution from non-point sources, like farm fields, or septic systems is difficult to accurately gauge. In those instances, data from case studies has to be extrapolated to a much wider set of circumstances, and errors in the case study, or the appropriateness of the wider application, can skew the results wildly.

To reduce the margin of error in the models, CBP is doing experimental work on a number of pollution controls and best management practices. That data should be available by the end of 2008.

Flush Fee In Action II

When the Bay Restoration Fund (aka The Flush Fee) was passed in 2004 by the Legislature and signed into law by Governor Ehrlich, there was great hope for the impact it would have. Several years on, we are now seeing the results of its implementation.

Today's Capital discusses the progress that has been made as a result of the $30/year/home fee on wastewater. All of the Anne Arundel County wastewater treatment plants are slated to be upgraded to "ehanced nutrient removal", at least in part with the assistance of flush fee funds, by 2011. According to the Capital report, some $111,760,000 from the flush will be spent in Anne Arundel County on the collective treatment plant upgrades.

There is also flush fee grant money available through the Anne Arundel County Health Department for upgrading septic systems. Sadly, only about 50 homeowners in the County have taken advantage of the program so far.

Regardless, the program seems to be working well. According to MDE estimates, the current upgrades have led to an annual reduction of nearly 700,000 pounds of nitrogen and nearly 80,000 pounds of phosphorus, and it's estimated that nitrogen will be reduced by 7.5 million pounds per year once all the plants are upgraded.

The success of this model reinforces the notion that in order for infrastructure upgrades to get the funding and attention they deserve, they need a dedicated funding source with an ongoing revenue stream. Counting on politicians to fund maintenance, whether it be for wastewater or stormwater, through the general fund, is pollyannaism at its highest.

* Added Bonus: 6 Common 'Flush Fee' Myths - From CBF

Bay Scores Lower than Last Year

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation just released its 2007 State of the Bay Report, and the results aren't good. This year's score is 28 out of 100, one point lower than last year's score. Three of 13 indicators fell, phosphorus, blue crabs, and water clarity.

Gilchrest Speaks Up for Menhaden

At this point, the news is a bit dated (it happened in November), but it still deserves comment (and praise). Congressman Wayne Gilchrest, who represents the eastern shore of Maryland, and a small area of the western shore in District 1, has introduced legislation that would create a 5-year moratorium on menhaden fishing on the east coast.

As has been addressed here in the past, the gluttonous Omega Protein, running ships out of Reedville, VA continues to harvest unsustainable numbers of menhaden, a filter feeder, from the Bay for use in its vitamin and animal food products.

At this point, it's clear that Virginia is not going to reign in this industry, so it's good to see Mr. Gilchrest attempting to bring the federal government in to stop this abuse of our shared resource.

Sturgeon Makes First Cameo in Three Decades

According the the Bay Journal, a waterman working off Tilghman Island recently caught a pregnant, 7-foot, 170-pound Atlantic sturgeon (Acipenser oxyrhynchus). The last time a sturgeon carrying eggs had been caught was in 1972.

Return of the Dead Zone

Today's Capital reports that there are several indications that the Bay's "dead zones", areas of low or no oxygen caused by nutrient pollution, have returned.

Terrapins Threatened Despite Harvest Restrictions

Poor data quality from the past cloud's the issue, but according to the new numbers available, the harvest of terrapins jumped over 2000% from 2005 to 2006. Prior to State restrictions on harvest in 2005, about 760 lbs of terrapin were harvested. In 2006, over 17,472 of terrapin were taken, made up largely of small males and sub-adult females.

The diamondback terrapin (Malaclemys terrapin) is the State reptile and a critical component of Bay ecosystems. Isn't it time we put a harvest ban in place, at least until we can get an accurate census of the current population?

Sea Level Rise and the Chesapeake Region

Today's Sun touches on the threat of sea level rise to the are around the Chesapeake Bay.

Getting the Bay Cleaned Up by 2010...Let's Imagine

Today's Post has a piece on what it would take to get the Bay cleaned up by 2010, like local government Executives said they would in 2000.

Surprise! Bay Won't Be Cleaned Up by 2010

Today's Post reports on the astonishing revelation by an EPA official that the clean-up of the Chesapeake Bay is going to take several more decades.

Sea Level Rise Along Maryland Coast Faster Than Global Average

According to a sea level rise model just released by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and the US Geological Survey, sea level in the mid-Atlantic region could rise 2-3 feet by 2100 as a result of global warming and land subsidence. The Worcester County Sea Level Rise Inundation Model, which is part of a larger study of sea level rise in the mid-Atlantic area, predicts that the rate of sea level rise in the region will double or triple over the course of the next century, and that vast acreage of wetlands, as well as billions of dollars in waterfront real estate will be threatened as a result.

Worcester County officials carefully considered the impacts of sea level rise and flooding in the process of drafting of the County's comprehensive plan this year, and even have in place a zoning overlay prohibiting development in the County's most flood-prone areas.

As Executive Leopold and Anne Arundel County move into the re-consideration of the County's General Development Plan, sea level rise, the loss of wetlands, and the sensitive nature of our coastal boundary need to be given significant attention. Worcester County appears to be a model that we could learn from.

As the Executive Director of the Maryland Coastal Bays Program, Dave Blazer, said, "It re-emphasizes the need to be careful what we do on the land in terms of development. If sea level rise is chipping away at the wetlands and marsh areas from the front side, we have to take extra care to make sure we aren’t chipping away at them from the back side.”

The Bay and Global Warming

The most recent edition of Chesapeake Quarterly explores the likely effects of global warming on the Bay.

Bay Still Failing, but Not Quite as Badly

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation released its State of the Bay Report this morning. The Bay's score is up to 29 from 27 last year (to grade a 29 as a "D" seems a heck of a curve). According to CBF:

A score of 40 points would be enough to meet the 2010 goal of getting the bay off the nation's "dirty waters" list; a 70 would indicate a restored bay; and 100 would represent the pristine estuary that Capt. John Smith explored early in the 17th century.

The report found that improvements had been made in the levels of nitrogen and phosphorus pollution in the Bay, as well in dissolved oxygen, riparian buffers, and oysters. Declines were reported in both the amount of wetlands and numbers of shad in the Bay.

While improvements in nutrient pollution are encouraging, experts warn that they could be the result of a dry spring, causing less runoff, rather than permanent changes to pollution loading in the Bay.

Capital Adds "Our Bay" Feature

Recently, the Capital added a new weekly feature called Our Bay which profiles local restoration projects, offers helpful environmental advice, and provides a listing of local Bay-related events and volunteer opportunities. Check it out.

Ehrlich Pledges Green for Green

There's no question, election years do funny things to people. Yesterday's Sun reported that Governor Ehrlich is planning to put $440 million back into the Program Open Space budget that he raided earlier in his term. The Governor took hundreds of millions of dollars from the fund, which consists of money raised through a real estate transfer tax, during the tight budget years. Now he would like to place $258 million into Program Open Space this year, and $115 million into the Rural Legacy Program.

Ehrlich is also discussing the possibility of additional funding for "Chesapeake Bay restoration programs, renewable energy development and agricultural programs designed to limit runoff into the state's waterways." Lest we be overwhelmed by Ehrlich's "generosity", it's important to take Dru-Schmidt Perkins' words to heart, "The issue is that this is dedicated funding that we're celebrating him for not stealing money from."

Nevertheless, this signals increasingly bad news for the state Democrats. Ehrlich led the way on the groundbreaking "flush fee" legislation to clean-up waste treatment plants (and, reluctantly, septic systems), a charge Democrats with absolute control of the State House and Governor's mansion couldn't do during the 30+ years of their dominance. Perhaps Republicans are beginning to realize they need solid environmental credentials to get re-elected in Maryland. Democrats should wake up and set the bar higher. Some sort of protection against raiding Program Open Space funding in the future would be a nice start.