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Chesapeake Bay Health Dips in New Report Card, but Long-Term Trend Remains Positive
June 10, 2025
While Chesapeake Bay health declined in 2024 compared to the previous year, the Bay’s health remains on a long-term upward trend, according to the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES)’s 2025 Chesapeake Bay and Watershed Report Card released today.
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Why Is the Chesapeake Bay Blue Crab Population Crashing?
May 28, 2025
Blue crab numbers have reached the second-lowest level in 35 years. Here’s what we know, and what we don’t.
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Baltimore Harbor Oyster Sanctuary Now Accepting New Tenants
May 16, 2025
Throughout the decade, students from the Baltimore Lab School have grown approximately 70,295 oysters in the Baltimore Harbor. That number includes over 11,500 oysters the kids planted one day in May.
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Upcoming Menhaden Management Meeting
May 1, 2025
A special Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) workgroup has completed a special report on the connection between osprey nest failures and falling menhaden harvests. What action will the Commission decide to take at its upcoming meeting?
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Menhaden Study Delay Leaves Important Questions Unanswered
April 23, 2025
We need more science to get to the heart of the connection between menhaden and catastrophic failure for nesting osprey. But for the second consecutive year, the Virginia legislature failed to fund the critically needed menhaden study.
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Harnessing the "Little Bivalve" to Produce Big Results for the Bay
April 11, 2025
Federal investment in large-scale oyster restoration in the Bay's rivers provides support for community efforts and is reaping benefits downstream.
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Virginia Leaves Critically Needed Menhaden Study Plan Unfunded
March 20, 2025
For the second year in a row, after pressure from Omega Protein lobbyists, Virginia refuses to fund a critical study about menhaden in the Chesapeake Bay. Why?
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Endangered Species Listing for Hellbender Is Long Overdue
January 28, 2025
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has proposed listing the Eastern hellbender as an Endangered species. A group of determined young people in Pennsylvania, the original “Hellbender Defenders,” say the recognition is long overdue.
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60 Minutes Spotlights Smith Island, Chesapeake Bay Sea Level Rise Challenges
December 2, 2024
The plight of Smith Island, Maryland attracted national attention this week on CBS’s 60 Minutes. Smith Island, nestled off the coast of Crisfield in Tangier Sound, is one of Maryland’s most unique cultural and ecological places.
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Virginia Oyster Gardening Nears Record During Virginia Oyster Month
November 21, 2024
The Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) celebrates a near record-breaking year for its oyster gardening program in Virginia as November marks Virginia Oyster Month.
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Megalodon Teeth and the Ancient Chesapeake Bay: An Interview with Dr. Stephen Godfrey
November 15, 2024
The Curator of Paleontology at the Calvert Marine Museum in Solomons, Maryland talks with us about the marvelous stories fossils tell, what the Chesapeake region’s ancient past can teach us about its future, and the secrets yet to be discovered at Calvert Cliffs.
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What Comes Next for Striped Bass?
November 5, 2024
As migrating striped bass prepare for their annual journey south from New England to their overwintering waters off the Mid-Atlantic, fishery managers are also considering big moves. In October, two major barometers of the population’s health were released. Neither painted a rosy picture.
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Virginia Regulators Vote Against Extension of Blue Crab Harvest
October 28, 2024
Virginia state regulators decided against lengthening the blue crab harvest season on Oct. 28, maintaining previously adopted regulations for a struggling population that supports one of the Commonwealth’s most valuable and iconic fisheries.
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ASMFC Considers Further Conservation Action Following Updated Striped Bass Stock Assessment
October 24, 2024
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) reviewed results from its coastwide 2024 Striped Bass Stock Assessment update, which indicated that fish numbers remain below sustainable levels, and voted to meet again in December to consider further action.
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As Osprey Populations Struggle, Managers Continue Deliberations on Chesapeake Bay Menhaden
October 23, 2024
Following reports of osprey chicks starving in areas of the Chesapeake Bay where they depend on menhaden for food, a workgroup tackling the issue gave its initial report to the East Coast’s fishery managers Oct. 22.
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$500,000 Grant to CBF Will Strengthen And Expand Riparian Buffer Efforts in 12 Counties
October 17, 2024
A grant of $500,000 to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) was one of a dozen new grants totaling more than $3.4 million announced this week that will improve water quality and fish and wildlife habitat in parts of Pennsylvania’s Chesapeake Bay watershed and other watersheds.
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New Map of Mussel Hotspots Created
October 17, 2024
The Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) this month released a new map that identifies potential habitats of native freshwater mussels, part of a project funded by a grant to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF).
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A Blue Crab Mystery
October 17, 2024
The population isn’t crashing, but it isn’t exactly thriving either. What’s going on?
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Young Striped Bass Continue Years-Long Struggle in Chesapeake Bay
October 17, 2024
Today the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) released another year of alarming results from an annual survey of juvenile striped bass in the Chesapeake Bay.
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Virginia Regulators Reverse Course to Keep Ban on Winter Blue Crab Season
September 24, 2024
In a significant reversal, Virginia state regulators Tuesday killed the possibility of opening the blue crab winter harvest for the upcoming 2024/2025 season.
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Osprey Starvation in Virginia and Maryland Linked to Menhaden, New Study Finds
September 12, 2024
Amid continuing concerns about the availability of menhaden in the Chesapeake Bay, a study released this week shows that osprey chicks are starving in nests in parts of the Bay where they typically depend on menhaden for food.
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Maryland Proposes Further Action for Menhaden in Chesapeake Bay
August 6, 2024
Today, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) voted to establish a workgroup to consider additional protections from industrial fishing of menhaden in the Chesapeake Bay after hearing new survey results that show low osprey nesting success in the Bay.
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Everybody’s Fish: Striped Bass on the Move
July 5, 2024
Their impressive annual migrations from estuarine nurseries to summer ocean feeding grounds make striped bass a cultural icon along the Atlantic Coast. But with populations struggling, the fish need many helping hands along the way.
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The Osprey Garden: A Chesapeake Eden at Risk
June 25, 2024
In the 1960s and ’70s, osprey almost entirely disappeared from the Bay region. The reason? The harmful insecticide DDT. After the chemical was banned, the Bay's osprey population rebounded. But today, in one portion of the Bay, osprey have plummeted to even lower levels.
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Chesapeake Bay Dead Zone Predicted to Be Slightly Larger Than Average
June 21, 2024
The dead zone in the Chesapeake Bay responsible for choking underwater life is forecast to be slightly larger than average and began earlier than normal this year, according to a forecast released today by the EPA’s Chesapeake Bay Program.
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