Chesapeake Bay: Still Troubled but Improving

The health of the Chesapeake Bay has improved in nine of 13 metrics.

Key Chesapeake Bay metrics.

The health of the Chesapeake Bay has improved again this year, showing gains in nine of 13 indicators, according to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s biennial State of the Bay report. “While Virginia and Maryland are largely on track to achieve their 2017 mid-term goals of 60 percent of practices in place, Pennsylvania is significantly behind, largely due to its failure to meet the goals it set for reducing pollution from agriculture,” states the report.

Most encouraging was the recovery of the blue crab population, accompanied by gains for rockfish, oysters and shad. Nitrogen, phosphorus, and dissolved oxygen levels also improved.

Decades of effort seem to be paying off, said the report. “We believe the Bay is reaching a tipping point. … We are seeing the clearest water in decades, regrowth of acres of lush underwater grass beds, and the comeback of the Chesapeake’s native oysters, which were nearly eradicated by disease, pollution, and overfishing.”

But much work remains to be done. The overall health index for the Bay still rates a C-, and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation still classifies the Bay as “dangerously out of balance,” just shy of actually “improving.”