On the Bay

When thousands of oysters are farmed in acres of floating cages in shallow water, organic wastes that collect on the sand and mud below can trigger chemical changes that are potentially harmful to plants and animals that live on the bottom. A new case study looks at the effects of these wastes.

The coastal bays along the Delmarva Peninsula need help. Excess nitrogen from human activities is harming their fragile ecosystems. Scientists worked closely with municipal and county planners to develop easy-to-use methods that could help them better manage these effects.

Big storms can impair the Chesapeake Bay’s water quality by dumping rain that washes pulses of nutrients and sediments into the estuary. But as twin storms hit the region in October, University of Maryland scientists traveled out out on stormy waters to study another effect: how storm-driven winds stir up nutrients from the Bay’s bottom zone.

The assignment: build an "aquaponics" laboratory. The educational goal: teach students to apply science and engineering to solve practical problems. And have fun doing it. 

Live bait packages shipped to the Mid-Atlantic from distributors in Maine harbor dozens of species of non-native, marine organisms, a newly published study says. These species can end up in our region’s waters, where they may become invasive and alter ecosystems.