Submerged aquatic vegetation or SAV is vital for the health of the Chesapeake Bay. The grasses are nurseries for young fish. They hide crabs after they've molted their shell. They are a food source for waterfowl and aquatic organisms including zooplankton, which are themselves a vital component of the food chain. They even help control sediment and absorb excess nutrients from the water.

So news that the Chesapeake Bay has more SAV -- about 12,000 acres more since 2007, according to a recently released survey -- is welcome. It represents an increase of 18 percent in a relatively short period of time.

Just how significant is this? And why are grasses in certain areas rebounding while other portions of the bay are continuing to lose them? That, unfortunately, is not altogether clear, although it's tempting to assume that efforts to lessen the flow of nitrogen and phosphorus into the water might be having some helpful effect.

Continue reading "A blade of grass grows in a beleaguered estuary" »

Posted by Peter Jensen at 6:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Chesapeake Bay
        

What does poaching nearly $1 million worth of striped bass from Maryland waters get you? The bill comes to $240,000 in restitution and 15 months in prison. That's what a U.S. District Court judge gave a Southern Maryland waterman who was a major figure in the Maryland-based black market operation uncovered by federal investigators.

That's a lot of prison time for fishing but the defendant, Thomas Crowder Jr., could have gotten up to five years.

Mr. Crowder is apparently considered by many of his neighbors and friends to be a good guy. In Leonardtown, he's active in the volunteer fire department, and House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer, whose district covers Southern Maryland, event sent the judge a letter of support.

But the resources of the Chesapeake Bay are not there for the plundering. It is unfortunate that there are watermen who tend to view restrictions on the harvest of striped bass -- or most any other of the Bay's dwindling species -- as unfair and unjust.

No doubt it's a tough time to be in the seafood business. The pollution-stressed Bay and its tributaries no longer support the seafood bounty they once did, and it's difficult to find alternative livelihood in the middle of a recession.  

Continue reading "Poacher in the pen" »

Posted by Peter Jensen at 3:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Chesapeake Bay
        

Get a bunch of friends and family together with a bushel of steamed Number Ones and some beer and picking crabs can be a lot of fun. But if you pick them for hours on end and must do so quickly and without allowing any shell in the meat, the entertainment value disappears faster than a can of Old Bay during the lunch rush at J.W. Faidley. No wonder some in the Maryland seafood industry are seriously considering using prison inmates to get the job done.

Why can't crab processors, most of whom are located in rural Dorchester County, find enough labor? Chiefly because it's seasonal, not particularly well paid, and difficult. Employers could offer higher wages, but their product is already expensive; raise prices much more and the bottom is likely to drop out -- or perhaps be overtaken by competitors. 

Their best hope is that Congress will once again allow a limited number of foreign workers to return to their crab-picking jobs under the H-2B guest worker program. Time is of the essence now that the weather is beginning to warm and crabs are returning to Maryland waters.

Continue reading "Warning: This job is no picnic" »

Posted by Peter Jensen at 3:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Chesapeake Bay