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BY DEREK AMOS
Conservation Specialist
Have you ever noticed that the price for oysters and crabs continues to climb year after year? For the past thirty-one years, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation has been studying the health of the Bay.
The foundation uses three main categories; pollution, habitat, and fish to compare the Bay as it is now to its status in pre-colonial times. The Bay reached an all time low in 1983 but is on the rebound today due to the conservation efforts of many people and organizations.
There is still more work to be done however. For example, the current oyster population represents only one percent of the total oyster population in pre-colonial times and the blue crab population is half of what it could be. Only the high inherent resilience of the Bay’s blue crab population prevents their numbers from being even lower.
Nutrient and sediment increases in the waters of the Bay are to blame for the decline in its overall health.
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