Chesapeake Bay Journal

A nonnative oyster might offer some advantage over the native species for boosting oyster population levels in the Chesapeake, but restoring large populations of either would face difficulty without a long-term, and costly, commitment to restore oyster habitat.

An eagerly awaited Environmental Impact Statement that analyzed the potential for introducing a nonnative oyster in the Bay as well as other management options indicated that there's no quick fix for the Bay's longstanding oyster shortage. It indicted that building a large population will take much longer than the 10-year time frame considered in the study.

But that's not necessarily true for the commercial production of oysters. The study concluded that growing either the native or nonnative oyster in aquaculture had the potential to boost the number of market-size oysters by "several times" above the current Baywide population.

Clean water advocates could hit mother lode with mine ruling: It would seem that there is little to link the Chesapeake Bay and Pinto Creek, two waterbodies that are separated by almost an entire continent. One is the nation's largest estuary, the other an intermittent desert stream in Arizona's copper mining region.

Bay advocates threaten suit to require EPA to act on cleanup: Various Chesapeake Bay agreements signed over the years have typically been considered voluntary agreements, but a group of high-profile Bay advocates have outlined a legal argument that those agreements are legally binding.

NOAA takes stock of assessment scientists and comes up short: It's well-known that there's a shortage of many fish and shellfish in the Bay, and around the world, as stocks have been hit by overfishing, habitat loss and pollution.

Scientists considering merits of rights-based blue crab fishery: With the federal government recently declaring the Chesapeake's blue crab fishery an economic disaster, and states slashing harvest levels to help rebuild the population, some scientists say it's time for a radical overhaul in the way crabs are managed.

Global warming pollution up 3 percent; surpassing dire predictions: The world pumped up its pollution of the chief man-made global warming gas last year, setting a course that could push beyond leading scientists' projected worst-case scenario, international researchers said in September.

Blind cave critters in Shenandoah Valley offer insight to water quality : The Madison Cave isopod, a rare, blind, pigment- less cave dweller, must be the weirdest looking sentinel of water quality in the country.

2008 young-of-year striped bass survey finds below average reproduction: The Maryland Department of Natural Resources Fisheries Service recently finished the 2008 striped bass juvenile index, a measure of striped bass spawning success in Chesapeake Bay. The 2008 index is 3.2, below the long- term average of 11.7. During the survey, DNR biologists collected 422 young-of-year striped bass.

NOAA, Park Service to enhance visitors' Chesapeake experiences: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Park Service, in a Memorandum of Agreement signed in October, will expand their collaboration on Bay-related programs, including the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail and NOAA's Chesapeake Bay Interpretive Buoy System.