Restoration and Health of the Chesapeake Bay

The water quality of the Chesapeake Bay has been declining for the past few decades. Little improvement is being made year-to-year and very few goals to restore it are being reached. The current overall health of the Bay waters is only 38 percent (based on a 100 percent scale). The waters of the Bay are home to many fish, shellfish, and several mammals. Many people depend on the Bay and its diversity for a way of life or for a source of recreation. With declining water quality this diversity is threatened and populations are falling.


In order to consider a body of water 'healthy' the water must have low enough levels of contaminants or sediment that aquatic life can survive. Also the water must be safe enough for humans to be in contact with it during activites such as swimming or fishing (or even drinking). In the Cheasapeake Bay, researchers use four determinants to decide the quality of the water: dissolved oxygen, water clarity, Chlorophyll a, and chemical contaminants. Similar to any environmental restoration program, goals are set for each of these indicators that researchers believe would restore water quality.

There are many factors that add to the decrease in water quality in the Bay and its watershed. One such is land use. The water shed of the Chesapeake covers six states and Washington D.C. Some of which are already densly populated areas and the numbers are growing quickly. Because of the population growth, development is rampant and thousands of acres of forest are lost each year. With deforestation and the numerous acres of agricultural lands, many chemicals and pollutants runoff the surface into streams and rivers that lead to the bay.

When combined, all of the factors lead to a dangerously impaired estuary. Many fisheries have been completey overfished or are greatly reduced. Three fisheries that have been taken advantage of are oyster, blue crabs, and rockfish. All three are symbols of the Chesapeake Bay and of the state of Maryland. All three havee reached significantly low numbers. The rockfish reached such low productivity levels that conservation efforts were in place and the fish has now grown to previous numbers. However, the oyster and blue crab have not had such luck, both being of very high value.

In 2008 only 21 percent of water quality goals were reached. Restoration attempts are failing repeatedly, with no improvement between 2007 and 2008. During the summer of 2008, 84 percent of the Bay had dangerously low levels of dissolved oxygen. If changes aren't made soon the Chesapeake could be permanently destroyed. The development that occurs directly around the Bay needs to be stopped, if it continues attempts to keep pollutants down and diversity up will become a losing battle. The population wants to look out their back windows and see a beatiful view of the water but if alterations aren't made in the way we see the Bay, as just a body of water and not a habitat, a way of life, or a privelege, then the Bay is on a crash course with disaster. And the people who depend on it will follow.