Bay Journal

Topics: Fisheries

Oyster restoration in the Chesapeake Bay faces an uncertain future because the federal budget recently passed by Congress failed to provide any dedicated money to continue reef construction in either Maryland or Virginia.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been building oyster reefs in the Bay for more than 20 years, and in recent years it’s been a major partner in the state-federal initiative to restore oyster habitat and populations in 10 of the Bay’s tributaries by 2025.

But the omnibus spending bill for fiscal year 2018 — approved March 23 and signed the same day by President Trump — marks the second year in a row with no specific appropriation for the Corps to continue reef restoration in the Bay.

[Continue Reading]

Timothy B. Wheeler
April 06, 2018
Fisheries,Politics + Policy
1 Comment

James spinymussel population approaching rock bottom

Mussels. Aside from some marine species appearing occasionally on menus, what do we really know about them? Freshwater members of this group of bivalves are perhaps the most obscure members of the Chesapeake Bay area’s waterways:...

William H. Funk
March 21, 2018
Fisheries
0 Comments

Norfolk’s Lafayette River close to meeting oyster restoration goal

Kalie Johnson didn’t plan it this way, but she’s helping to restore oysters in one of the most challenging places in Virginia. Three years ago, the Williamsburg native launched her own aquaculture business, Colonial Oyster Company,...

Timothy B. Wheeler
March 15, 2018
Fisheries
0 Comments

MDE must rethink lease of 46 years for Conowingo

The Maryland Department of the Environment public comment period for the Conowingo Dam Water Quality Certification renewal closed on Jan 15. The MDE certification is mandatory before Exelon reapplies for federal relicensing. (They have requested...

Scott Budden & Johnny Schockley
March 09, 2018
Energy,Fisheries,Politics + Policy
6 Comments

Fisheries: Archives

Long-buried oyster shells show how the Bay sustained early Americans (Blog)

What can a bunch of old oyster shells tell you about the Chesapeake Bay’s past, and maybe its future? More than you’d think, according to Alex Jansen, a researcher with the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. For...

Timothy B. Wheeler
March 08, 2018
Fisheries,People + Society
4 Comments

Two members of MD fisheries panel replaced who’d questioned crab regulator’s firing (Blog)

The replacement of the chair and another member of a key Maryland fishery advisory body has surprised some observers and led others to question whether it’s political fallout from the firing a year ago of the state’s veteran blue...

Timothy B. Wheeler
February 28, 2018
Fisheries,Politics + Policy
3 Comments

Coalition aims to put 10 billion more oysters in the Chesapeake Bay

Looking to build on the progress already made in restoring the Chesapeake’s depleted oyster population, a coalition of more than 20 nonprofit groups, businesses and educational institutions has set a new goal of putting another 10...

Timothy B. Wheeler
February 26, 2018
Fisheries
1 Comment

PA fishing fee politics could close shad hatchery on the Juniata

Since it began rearing shad 41 years ago, Pennsylvania’s Van Dyke Research Station has released more than 227 million tiny fish into the Susquehanna River basin. But this might be the last year that the hatchery — located along...

Karl Blankenship
January 08, 2018
Fisheries
1 Comment

Four Bay tributaries chosen for oyster restoration, await funding

Four more Chesapeake Bay tributaries have been chosen for large-scale oyster restoration efforts — if and when money becomes available. In Maryland, Natural Resources Secretary Mark Belton announced in mid-December that he’s...

Timothy B. Wheeler
January 05, 2018
Fisheries
0 Comments

Bay Barometer finds things keep looking up (Blog)

The wintry weather outside may be frightful, but the latest Bay Barometer is pointing in a generally positive direction. The annual report released by the federal-state Chesapeake Bay Program trumpeted continued gains the long-running effort...

Timothy B. Wheeler
January 04, 2018
Fisheries,Pollution,Wildlife + Habitat
0 Comments

Oysters starting to show signs of resistance to Dermo, MSX

Oysters come to the Cooperative Oxford Laboratory for a checkup. But they never go home, even if they’re in peak health. They’ve sacrificed their goopy gray bodies to science. The federal-state lab in the former fishing village of...

Timothy B. Wheeler
December 26, 2017
Fisheries
0 Comments

Fall wild oyster survey: ‘It’s been a nutty year’

A waterman tonged for oysters nearby as the diesel-powered Miss Kay chugged out from Oxford to join him in searching for shellfish in Maryland’s Tred Avon River. The first drag of the vessel’s dredge across the bottom came up...

Timothy B. Wheeler
December 20, 2017
Fisheries
1 Comment

Maryland targets two Potomac River tributaries for oyster restoration

The Hogan administration has selected two Potomac River tributaries in Southern Maryland for large-scale oyster restoration efforts, one of them poorly rated by state biologists, while holding out hope of opening some state oyster sanctuaries...

Timothy B. Wheeler
December 15, 2017
Fisheries
0 Comments

Biologist fighting uphill battle to get eelways built on Potomac dams

Decades ago, as Ed Enamait and other biologists surveyed the Potomac River for walleye, smallmouth bass, muskie and other freshwater game fish, they discovered a disturbing trend. Every year during the 1980s and ’90s, their...

Karl Blankenship
December 07, 2017
Energy,Fisheries
1 Comment

More articles »