The Chesapeake Bay Foundation raised concerns about Bay restoration efforts following the August dead zone report. The report, from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and Old Dominion University, found that dissolved oxygen conditions in Maryland and Virginia were worse than average this August following two better-than average months. The report attributed the increased size of the dead zone to significantly warmer than average temperatures, lower-than-average wind speeds, and greater-than-average precipitation.

The Bay’s living resources, including fish, crabs, and oysters, require healthy levels of oxygen to survive. For example, Atlantic sturgeon, a federally endangered species, require 5 mg/l of dissolved oxygen throughout their range.  An expanding dead zone may curtail recovery efforts for this ancient fish.

“Warmer waters and greater precipitation, both hallmarks of climate change, are a growing threat to the Bay and its living resources,” said CBF’s Maryland Senior Scientist Doug Myers. “Combined with declines in both the number of crabs and acreage of Bay grasses, it is clear that we must significantly ramp up efforts to reduce pollution and combat climate change.”

Time is running out for the watershed states to adopt the Bay restoration practices and policies they committed to in the Chesapeake Clean Water Blueprint. While Maryland and Virginia have plans to achieve the 2025 goal, additional funding and implementation are critical. Pennsylvania’s plan, however, is sorely deficient and the Commonwealth needs to increase spending by more than $300 million dollars annually to implement a plan that falls short of achieving Pennsylvania’s clean water commitments.

These plans require farmers, primarily in Pennsylvania, to achieve 80 percent of the remaining pollution reduction necessary by the 2025 deadline. That means that farmers will have to significantly increase the use of conservation practices.

Conservation practices, such as planting forested buffers and rotating where livestock graze, are among the most cost-effective ways to reduce pollution from agriculture. The same practices also help mitigate climate change by sequestering carbon as well as boost local economies by creating jobs and generating business in the community.

Achieving the Blueprint goals will require more than just conservation funding. All the federal partners must step up to the plate. To date, EPA has failed to meet its Clean Water Act responsibilities by refusing to hold Pennsylvania, and to a lesser extent New York, accountable for failure to develop plans that meet the Blueprint requirements.

More than a year ago, CBF and its partners Anne Arundel County, The Maryland Waterman’s Association, Robert Whitescarver and Jeanne Hoffman, and the State Attorneys General for Delaware, Maryland, the District of Columbia, and Virginia filed suit in federal court.  To date that litigation continues, and EPA has not taken action.

“The good news is that CBF is working with a broad range of partners to increase conservation funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In addition, partners are working to put in place a program in Pennsylvania that would, for the first time, provide significant state funding for conservation practices,” said Alison Prost, CBF Vice President for Environmental Protection and Restoration. “The bad news is that without EPA leadership to hold the states accountable, and additional conservation funding, the Blueprint will be just another failed effort to save the Bay.”

The Rod and Reef Slam Fishing Tournament returns for its fourth year in Maryland waters this fall from Oct. 9 to Oct. 17. 

In this unique fishing tournament, anglers who catch the most different species of finfish can win gift cards and prizes worth up to $300. The family-friendly tournament includes powerboat, kayak, and youth divisions.  The entry cost is $25 and all entrants receive a shirt if registered before Oct. 1. 

The contest is designed to highlight the diversity of fish that surround oyster reefs. To do that, anglers will fish in areas where oyster reefs have been restored in Maryland. Anglers will use the iAngler app to document their catches and fishing locations.  

Chesapeake Bay Foundation and Coastal Conservation Association Maryland are organizing the contest. 

“We’re hoping to demonstrate the value of oyster reef restoration through this tournament,” said Allison Colden, CBF’s Maryland Senior Fisheries Scientist. “Oyster reefs provide habitat to a wide range of Chesapeake Bay marine life. The reefs are important to dozens of types of fish, which hunt for food and use the space between oyster clumps for protection. The reefs are ideal for recreational anglers to target different fish species.” 

During the past two centuries, Maryland has lost nearly all its oyster reef habitat due to overfishing, pollution, and disease. The loss of reef habitat has corresponded with less fish that frequent oyster reefs, such as sheepshead, black sea bass, and tautog. However, ongoing oyster reef restoration throughout the Bay is showing signs of success and the potential to lure more of these types of fish back into Maryland waters. Oysters are also valuable in the Bay for their natural filtering abilities. An adult oyster can filter up to 50 gallons of water per day. 

“If we want more fish in the Chesapeake Bay, we need more oyster reefs,” said David Sikorski, Executive Director of Coastal Conservation Association Maryland, which works to protect the state’s marine resources. “For years now, CBF and CCA have worked together to advocate for and undertake reef restoration. During the past decade hundreds of acres of Bay bottom have been restored. Fishing in this tournament is a way for us to enjoy that progress and gather information about the types of fish gathering at rebuilt reefs.” 

All anglers who register will also be entered into the new invasive species division this year. The person who catches the longest 3-fish stringer of blue catfish, flathead catfish or Northern snakehead will be declared the winner of that division. 

Anglers can pick fishing locations ranging from the large-scale restoration tributaries on the Eastern Shore such as Harris Creek, the Little Choptank River, and the Tred Avon River to smaller Western shore restoration sites, including those in the South, Severn and Magothy rivers around Annapolis. There are more than 100 reefs to fish in the tournament that can be found using the tournament’s interactive map. 

In previous years, the tournament took place only at oyster reefs on the Eastern Shore. This will be the first year it’s expanded to restoration reefs throughout all of Maryland. 

Winners in previous Rod and Reef Slam tournaments have caught more than a dozen different species including white perch, spot, toadfish, drum, blue crabs, rockfish, and bluefish.  

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, there will be no formal gathering, but a live online awards ceremony will take place to announce the winners. 

Anglers interested in participating can register on the CBF website. More information about the tournament is on the iAngler page.

Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) educators are excited to welcome teachers and students back to outdoor education programs this fall. The outdoor class program was suspended in March 2020 when the pandemic began.

Since the early 1970s, CBF’s award-winning outdoor education program has guided over one million students from Chesapeake Bay watershed schools to forests, rivers, and on the Bay to teach them about the nation’s largest estuary.

“Our education program’s mantra has always been to ‘learn outside,’ so we’re thrilled to get back on the Bay as well as the watershed’s rivers and trails to teach, learn, and explore with students in person,” said Tom Ackerman, CBF’s Vice President of Education. “We are eager to make up for the opportunities students have missed with us during the last 18 months. However, our priority has always been the health of our participants.”

CBF is taking several steps to protect the health of students and educators as outdoor education programs resume this fall for the first time since the pandemic began.

This year’s outdoor programs will be different than in previous years due to pandemic precautions. All day trip activities will take place outdoors, where studies have shown the risk of transmitting Covid-19 is much lower compared to indoor activities. Students will be required to undergo a health check 24 hours before attending a day program and wear masks when social distancing isn’t possible, such as on boats. To protect their own health and the health of others, All CBF educators have been vaccinated.

For residential programs, when students stay overnight at CBF facilities such as Smith Islandor the Karen Noonan Center on the Eastern Shore, students and other participants must be vaccinated. At the residential centers, participants will also be required to wear masks when indoors, with exceptions made for eating and sleeping.

In Maryland, CBF provides day trip education programs at the Phillip Merrill Environmental Center and Arthur Sherwood facility in Annapolis as well as out of the Baltimore Harbor. Schools in the Washington, D.C., area have the option of joining the Potomac River program in the nation’s capital.

On these experiences, students perform water quality tests, trawl for fish, examine plankton, and learn about the history and ecology of the Bay, its tributaries, and watershed. Participation in a CBF meaningful watershed educational experience is an important part of schools’ environmental literacy programs.

Studies of outdoor education classes have found students are more engaged and develop important skills such as perseverance, self-efficacy, and leadership through their participation. Students report after learning outside they feel more confident and connected to nature.

Teachers interested in signing their class up for a fall program can visit CBF’s education website to do so. This year’s fall field experiences will take place from late September through early December. Teachers can choose from canoe, boat, or land-based experiences.