On the Bay

The water quality of American streams has declined for years, and a leading cause is fertilizer and pesticide runoff from agricultural land. The policy tool most often employed in Maryland to reduce this pollution has been cost sharing, where the state pays farmers to adopt more sustainable farming methods.

Researchers presented new methods for studying harmful algae in the Chesapeake Bay and other locations during the ninth U.S. Symposium on Harmful Algae held in Baltimore this November. One emerging idea was to use satellite imagery to identify individual species of harmful algal blooms and monitor their activity.

The more they grew, the better they did: New research shows that underwater grasses in the Susquehanna Flats in the upper Chesapeake Bay created conditions favorable to their resurgence there, by removing excess nitrogen from the water.  

Roger Morris knew autumn crabbing would end early in 2017.  Last year the legal crabbing season lasted until the end of November. This year it would close down three days before Thanksgiving. So this short month would be his last shot at a good year.