Chesapeake Bay still in poor health, blue crabs suffering, says State of the Bay report

The health of the Chesapeake Bay remains unchanged from a D+ in 2020 and 2018, according to a biennial report from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation that showed mixed results from pollution control efforts.

The State of the Bay report looks at 13 indicators across pollution, habitat, and fisheries in the bay, comparing them to what the status of the bay would have been before European colonization in the 1600s. The bay’s watershed, a connection of rivers, streams, and communities that feed into the body of water, spans 64,000 square miles, impacts 18 million people, and is home to 3,600 species of plants and animals.

“While we’ve made significant progress, far too much pollution still reaches our waterways, and climate change is making matters worse,” said Foundation President Hilary Harp Falk in a statement. “The good news is that the Bay is remarkably resilient,” and there is new “energy” for taking care of it with new Environmental Protection Agency administrators, governors, legislators, and leaders within environmental organizations, she added.

There was no change in the high levels of toxic contaminants such as PFAs and microplastics or the levels of nitrogen and dissolved oxygen, the latter of which can result from harmful algal blooms. There was a small improvement in levels of phosphorus pollution, which enter waterways primarily through farm and stormwater runoff alongside nitrogen. But the water’s clarity still decreased because of nutrient runoff, which blocked the sunlight needed for habitat growth.

The report noted that 95,000 acres of farms and forests, which help prevent nutrient runoff, were developed across the Bay watershed from 2013 to 2018, the latest reporting period. The report stated that Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia have experienced significant forest clearing, but all three states have planting programs.

The pollution findings come as the EPA acknowledged last fall that states are not on track to meet a 2025 deadline for pollution reductions. States within the Chesapeake Watershed, which run from Virginia to Upstate New York, are looking to farms to achieve roughly 90% of the remaining pollution reductions by limiting nutrient runoff.

At a press conference following the release of the report, Falk said that an adjustment to the deadline could be announced this fall and that efforts to clean the Bay will continue and need to be accelerated.

“[It’s] an important deadline but not the finish line,” Falk said.

Peggy Sanner, the Foundation’s Virginia Executive director, said the nonprofit will request funding during the upcoming 2023 Virginia legislative session to help alleviate the runoff.

Included in the request is $300 million for upgrades to sewage treatment facilities, which contribute to nutrient runoff and are doing so more frequently as climate change brings more severe storms. The foundation also wants funding for grants to farmers to encourage them to install long-term solutions, such as tree buffers along streams and rivers.

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation is “urging legislators to continue to accelerate progress in reducing pollution and fully funding nitrogen and phosphorus runoff” reduction programs, Sanner said.

Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s budget proposal includes $107 million in 2024 for nutrient removal, $100 million this year for the Richmond Combined Sewer Overflow project, and $50 million in 2024 for agricultural best management practices. Last year, Virginia appropriated a record $116 million for its agricultural best management practice cost-share program, with $81 million of that earmarked for farmers within the Bay watershed.

The fisheries section of the report showed a decrease in blue crab numbers — their lowest level on record in the survey’s 33-year history. Having an updated stock assessment funded by Virginia and Maryland would provide a better understanding of how to manage the population, the Foundation’s Senior Regional Ecosystem Scientist Chris Moore told reporters.

Oyster reproduction increased, but the report says not over-harvesting them is needed to maintain levels. There was also an increase in striped bass following a recent assessment from the Atlantic State Marine Fisheries Commission that found the population is no longer being overfished. Still, juvenile species numbers are below average in Maryland or slightly above Virginia’s long-term average.

by Charlie Paullin, Virginia Mercury

Virginia Mercury is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Virginia Mercury maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sarah Vogelsong for questions: info@virginiamercury.com. Follow Virginia Mercury on Facebook and Twitter.