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Article History BALTIMORE (Map, News) - Underwater grasses in the Chesapeake Bay increased 10 percent last year but fell far short from the target, an annual aerial survey released Monday found.
The grasses — a major indicator of the overall health of the Bay — covered about 65,000 acres of the Bay and its rivers in 2007, which is 35 percent of the goal of 185,000 acres by 2010, according to the Chesapeake Bay Program, a regional partnership coordinating Bay restoration efforts.
“As the Bay grasses go, so does the Bay itself,” said Lee Karrh, a state Department of Natural Resources scientist and head of the Chesapeake Bay Program’s Bay grasses group.
Bay grasses, threatened by nutrient and sediment runoff, provide a crucial habitat and protection for blue crabs and other aquatic life. The grasses also filter the water by absorbing harmful nutrients and slowing the flow, allowing sediments to drop out, Karrh said.
The survey, conducted by the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, is based on photographs taken between May and October.
Grass coverage topped 90,000 acres in 2002 but saw sharp declines in 2006 to about 59,000 acres, according to the survey.
In 2007, the upper Bay, which is north of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, reached 80 percent of the goal with 19,000 acres of coverage. The grass beds on the Susquehanna Flats have reached 97 percent of the goal.
“We are really excited about what we are seeing in the upper Bay,” said Bill Dennison, a researcher and professor at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science.
Grasses are responding to efforts to reduce the nitrogen loads through upgrading the wastewater treatment plants, Dennison said.
The middle and lower reaches of the Bay are still suffering from poor water clarity, researchers said.
The middle Bay, from the Bay Bridge to the Potomac River, saw grasses decrease to about 30,000 acres, or 26 percent of the goal, the survey found. South of the Potomac River, researchers found about 16,000 acres, or 35 percent of the goal.
smichael@baltimoreexaminer.com
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Comments from Examiner Readers
9:43 AM MST on Fri., Jul. 25, 2008 re: "Environmental programs get $2.1 million infusion"
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1:34 PM MST on Fri., May. 23, 2008
re: "Study: Warming could sink Bay beaches"
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10:01 AM MST on Fri., May. 23, 2008
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9:59 AM MST on Fri., May. 23, 2008
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9:38 AM MST on Fri., May. 23, 2008
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8:56 AM MST on Fri., May. 23, 2008
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5:02 AM MST on Fri., May. 23, 2008
re: "Study: Warming could sink Bay beaches"
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6:50 AM MST on Tue., May. 13, 2008
re: "Public opinion poll shows disconnect between storm drains, Bay"
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4:05 AM MST on Thu., Feb. 7, 2008
re: "Activists seek tweaks to Chesapeake Bay fund law"
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6:11 PM MST on Wed., Jan. 16, 2008
re: "Bay, various environmental projects to receive $10 million in U.S. funding"
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2:32 PM MST on Wed., Jan. 16, 2008
re: "Bay, various environmental projects to receive $10 million in U.S. funding"
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9:55 AM MST on Mon., Jan. 14, 2008
re: "Another ban considered on detergents that harm Bay"
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9:17 AM MST on Mon., Jan. 14, 2008
re: "D.C. moves to restrict popular detergents"
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4:22 AM MST on Mon., Jan. 14, 2008
re: "Another ban considered on detergents that harm Bay"
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2:20 PM MST on Fri., Jan. 4, 2008
re: "Advocates look to clarify Bay fund spending"
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4:49 AM MST on Thu., Dec. 6, 2007
re: "Md., Va. governors vow to clean up Bay"
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4:01 AM MST on Thu., Dec. 6, 2007
re: "Md., Va. governors vow to clean up Bay"
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7:37 AM MST on Tue., Dec. 4, 2007
re: "Chesapeake Bay health earns 'D'"
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4:19 AM MST on Tue., Dec. 4, 2007
re: "Declining health earns Chesapeake Bay a D"
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3:16 AM MST on Tue., Dec. 4, 2007
re: "Declining health earns Chesapeake Bay a D"
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11:49 AM MST on Thu., Aug. 23, 2007
re: "Wilson Bridge helps grow fish habitat"
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Ma said:
Excellent
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Nancy said:
If any liberals here would like to buy some carbon credits here I have them at $10 a share.You can buy some from me and I will reduce the warming of our climate.So if you want yo reduce global warming and save the Bay , get in touch with me.
2 agree | 1 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
There’s only one way to stop this have Martin O’Malley and the rest of those idiots in Annapolis tax it. Then we all will be safe.
0 agree | 1 disagree
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A giraffe dies said:
Sara Michael why is this news? I have a study that says if the sun burned out tomorrow, there would be wide-spread and catastrophic events world wide, including the chesapeake bay. By the way, scientific consesus now suggests we are in a period of global cooling for the next 10 years. Really..., meteorologists can't predict the weather on a day to day basis, but we should trust them on their predictions for 10 to 100 years out? And by the way, how is cow flatulence causing global warming on Mars because Mars has been warming over the last few years.
1 agree | 1 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
This planet has been around billions and billions of years and during that time has undergone numerous global calaminities including flooding, fire, etc. Frankly, part of the problem now is overpopulation but no one seems to find it politically correct to address it. Instead of trying to feed the masses, we ought to be instituting mandatory sterilization programs.
0 agree | 1 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Some scientists say we're about to experience about a decade of global cooling. If this occurs, won't polar ice caps thicken, thereby dropping sea levels? The bottom line is, there is insufficient evidence to declare global warming. Climate has been studied for about 100 years or so, but Earth is 6,000,000,000 years old. It is IMPOSSIBLE to make a conclusion with such limited information.
2 agree | 1 disagree
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Joe said:
The Liberals do more pollution on the bay then anybody else because they out number the rest of us! I approve of this message!
2 agree | 1 disagree
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Bill Clinton said:
There was a time in history that there was no Bay at all.And there was a time when the sea level was much higher then today.The earth is always changing in slow motion taking hundreds and thousands of years to do so.The idea that we the human race can these kind of changes is crazy.To all you LIBERALS or PROGRESSIVES whatever you like to be , you show your stupidity!
1 agree | 0 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Steve, trash in the harbor comes from litterers not garbage cans. Maryland is full of Liberal litterers that are more concerned with CO2 than the garbage they discard into the environment, which is real pollution. No surprise, they elected O’Malley.
1 agree | 1 disagree
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Puzzled said:
By the time the POLS get through cuting up the pie there will be little good come out of all these millions!
78 agree | 77 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Thank you Dutch for looking out for the bay and the children of MD. All talk and no action Scientists lazy monkeys can get off their computers now and get out in the feild and do some clean up work for a change. Sick and tired of them living off the poor polluted taxpayers complaints?? Problems have solutions (like the chicken poop and feed washing in the bay) These scientist are afraid of a real perminant solution: Baltimore, Oxford , Horn Point Dorchester County and the Chesapeake Foundation oro maybe they were not qualified to fix the Chesepeake. Many say the Chesepeake is not fixable, no faith.
77 agree | 83 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
I have worked on and have been around the bay for more than 55 years. In all those years they have been dumping 100s of millions of dollars studing the bay (oysters ,crabs , pollution and repeating the same studies in many location. These locations include Baltimore, Oxford , Horn Point Dorchester County and the Chesapeake Foundation. Seems to me that we could study the Bay for hundreds of years and throw study money at the bay and never solve any problems What the Bay needs is action!!! Enought Study!!! If many years ago we had used those MILIONS of dollars toward more and updated waste treatment plants around the Bay area I think we would not have our Bay in this bad shape. The Scientist love to study, but we need action. I think this may not be a course in college. The CBF may do alot for Bay problem awareness but I think by now we are all aware that there is a great problem. By the way how much does the CBF boss make,he shure has a great palace to work in. No More Study!
85 agree | 84 disagree
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City Resident said:
LOL
99 agree | 98 disagree
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Examiner Recipient said:
I think it's an interesting hypocritical note that your newspapers end up all over the street in my neighborhood, get soaked and washed down the sewers, get delivered even after 4 requests to stop leaving them, and you can write an article about pollution as if you don't contribute to it. please don't deliver trash and leave it on the steet.
86 agree | 99 disagree
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Tinker said:
Long, long overdue!
90 agree | 108 disagree
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Hmmm? said:
"The legislature shouldn’t enumerate which programs should receive funding, because the Bay’s needs change year to year, said Sen. Brian Frosh, D-District 13" That's why you pass budgets annually and that's exactly the job of the legistlature. DUH!!! Seriously, these are the dems that you folks keep electing. Why was this passed in a legislative special session? If you're providing a trust fund to be spent in future years then how can you possibly include that as part of the so called "budget shortfall" which I implore anyone to show me because to date the budget has yet to be submitted so not sure how you can have a shortfall for a budget htat hasn't been submitted. How stupid are the MD people? Come on and WAKE UP!
109 agree | 99 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
and we are suppose to believe a governor that has done nothing but lie to us since the day he began to run for governor. I think not !!!!!!!
106 agree | 107 disagree
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Sven said:
How many time have we heard this story.There is no will to get the job done!
123 agree | 108 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Green roofs and water runoff are needed on the many tributaries to the Chesepeake Bay, illegal dumpings, over development and continued depletion of natural recources adjacent. Great leaders need to step up and purchase or place moratoriums in these areas. Yes, that is you, all the Great leaders. Keep Md clean. Communicate, not rocket science M'Lords. Hire more environmentalist for solutions and environmental crime lawyers for all those illegal dumpers. Its just a crime. All of the childrens future. Get her done.
115 agree | 249 disagree
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Sven said:
Lot of lip service paid to the bays problems and a lot of money spent BUT the problem will never be solved till we really get serious!
117 agree | 102 disagree
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avid reader said:
When we have trashed and raped the bay as we have done over the years what do you expect?
124 agree | 125 disagree
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Preposition change said:
"What was once thousands of tons of concrete for the Woodrow Wilson Bridge" is now thousands of tons of concrete under the Woodrow Wilson Bridge.
158 agree | 159 disagree
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