Efforts to improve water quality in the Chesapeake Bay watershed appear to be working, experts said recently.

The federal government has increasingly strived to bolster water quality initiatives in historically important waterways throughout the U.S. Chesapeake Bay has long been a driver of economic growth in the Mid-Atlantic, but rising pollution in the bay watershed have had deleterious repercussions, eroding fish populations and hurting environmental cleanup efforts.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has overseen the redevelopment of the Chesapeake Bay. With the support of the Obama Administration, the EPA has worked to limit phosphorous and nitrogen levels in the bay, which had jumped over the past decade. Rising nutrient levels had, among other effects, spurred the growth of toxic blue green algae blooms.

Blue green algae blooms tend to proliferate during the hot, summer month. They have become an increasing environmental nuisance in the Chesapeake Bay, where they have depleted oxygen concentrations, hurting local marine populations. By targeting the high phosphorous and nitrogen levels, officials said they hoped to increase the effectiveness of existing algae removal efforts.

The Wall Street Journal reports that work to clean up the bay has thus far helped promote the growth of blue crabs. Officials said in a report they released this week that they had discovered that blue grabs in the Chesapeake Bay are at record numbers. Compared to last year, for instance, the blue crab population in the bay has soared by more than 60 percent.

In total, environmental researchers pegged the Chesapeake Bay's blue crab population at 764 million. They also noted that the rise was most pronounced in juvenile crabs, who now number more than 587 million, representing a nearly 300 percent surge from 2011, according to the WSJ.

While cleanup campaigns have likely helped spur the growth of the blue crab population, experts also cited a successful restriction on harvesting as playing an important role in the crabs' resurgence. In 2008, the state imposed restrictions on fishermen aimed at preventing further population losses. Martin O'Malley, Maryland's governor, said that the uptick in marine life would have positive economic ramifications.

The report is "good news for watermen, it's good news for the bay, it's good news for jobs [and] it's good news for our economic recovery," the governor affirmed.

 

Posted on May 17th, 2012 under Agricultural Runoff, Lake and Pond Algae Control, Wastewater News, Water Regulations