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Category Archives: Environment
Chesapeake Bay’s Crab Numbers increase 60%
The Chesapeake Bay’s blue crab population increased 60 percent in a year and is at its highest level since 1997.
The 2009-2010 baywide, winter dredge survey estimates the population rose to 658 million crabs. The survey is the primary one that the states use assess the condition of the Chesapeake Bay blue crab population.
The substantial rise in abundance of mature crabs and juveniles was clearly a response of the crab population to unprecedented management actions, such as the closure of the winter dredge fishery, by the Virginia Marine Resources Commission and partner agencies.
[Read](http://www.wtopnews.com/?nid=25&sid=1933844 “Read the Article”) (WTOP)
The 5 State Parks McDonnell Would Like to Close
McDonnell’s proposed budget calls for the temporary closure of:
* [Caledon Natural Area](http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/state_parks/cal.shtml) in King George County
* [Mason Neck State Park](http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/state_parks/mas.shtml) in Fairfax County
* [False Cape State Park](http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/state_parks/fal.shtml) in Virginia Beach
* [Twin Lakes State Park](http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/state_parks/twi.shtml) in Prince Edward County
* [Staunton River Battlefield Park](http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/state_parks/stb.shtml) in Halifax and Charlotte counties.
Caledon encompasses 2,579 acres along the Potomac, with dense forest and prime habitat for eagles and other wildlife.
Twin Lakes is Virginia’s most historically significant park for African-Americans.
False Cape is one of the most pristine five miles on the eastern seaboard.
If the budget is approved as proposed, the parks would close to the public, but a skeleton crew would remain on hand as caretakers until the budget situation improves.
Last year, according to the National Association of State Park Directors, Virginia ranked 46th in parks spending per capita and 47th in percentage of state general funds devoted to parks.
[Read](http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2010/022010/02182010/528781 “Read the Article”) (Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star)
*How will this affect [Biscuit Run](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biscuit_Run_State_Park), the new state park in Albemarle County that was purchased by the state last month?*
The new ocean predator: Jellyfish?
Of all the oceans’ predators, jellyfish have the least … of everything: With no teeth, fins or brains, they catch only whatever unlucky animals drift into their path, but to the animals they hunt, jellyfish are a menace. Their venom often kill creatures hundreds of times their size, including, in rare cases, humans.
As scientists study jellyfish more closely, a new creature is emerging: More than just a nuisance, jellyfish are viewed as barometers of ocean health and possibly a powerful force affecting seawater itself.
Unlike sharks, jellyfish thrive in ecosystems damaged by human activity. Oceanographers have found a common symptom among places where overfishing, chemical pollution and rising sea temperatures have killed off other species: more jellyfish.
Read (Global Post)
Tough Season May Force Texas Oystermen to Fold
A year after Hurricane Ike devastated Galveston Bay’s oyster beds, the oystermen who have been harvesting seafood from the bay’s fertile waters for generations are barely hanging on, and many fear that this could be their last oyster season.
The boats that fan out over the bay every morning are harvesting only a third of what they usually do, and some longtime oystermen are thinking of finding a new line of work.
In a good year, each boat can bring in about 90 sacks of oysters a day, the legal limit. This year, the claw-shaped nets used to pull oysters are coming up empty half the time, and many of the oysters are too small to be legally harvested.
[Read](http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/02/us/02oyster.html?src=sch&pagewanted=all “Read the Article”) (New York Times)
Everglades’ wood stork enjoys a rebirth
The [wood stork](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood_Stork “Wikipedia Article”), an ungainly duckling among the Everglades’ elegant wading birds, has been breeding in numbers unseen in decades.
Rain in the last crucial month of nesting season took a toll, leaving half the weakened fledglings prey for waiting gators. But even with that loss, preliminary surveys estimate that 3,500 will leave South Florida nests this year.
Contrast that to the survivors last year: zero.
The location of many nests this year is just as exciting as the number of them. Nearly half, said Powell, were south of Alligator Alley in the historic Everglades. Some birds even nested in coastal mangrove rookeries that had been nearly silent for decades.
”We haven’t seen this kind of nesting efforts and eggs laid since the 1930s,” said Dean Powell, director of watershed management for the South Florida Water Management District, which compiles an annual population assessment of wading birds.
Because of its feeding method, the stork is particularly vulnerable to water conditions. It hunts in pools no more than 18 inches deep, feeding by feel as it wades.
[Read](http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/story/1109340.html “Read the Article”) (Miami Herald)
Bird Flu Survives in Landfills
After an outbreak of the bird flu, most carcasses end up in landfills. There, according to a new study, the virus can survive for up to two years.
Landfills are designed to contain waste for far longer than that, so the practice is probably safe. Still, the new study suggests that waste managers might want to be particularly careful with how they dispose of infected birds.
[Read](http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2009/06/09/bird-flu-landfills.html “Read the Article”) (Discovery Channel)
Greening the Herds – A New Diet to Decrease Methane Gas
Since January, cows at 15 farms across Vermont have had their grain feed adjusted to include more plants like alfalfa and flaxseed — substances that, unlike corn or soy, mimic the spring grasses that the animals evolved long ago to eat.
As of the last reading in mid-May, the methane output of one herd had dropped 18 percent. Meanwhile, milk production has held its own.
With worldwide production of milk and beef expected to double in the next 30 years, the United Nations has called livestock one of the most serious near-term threats to the global climate. In a 2006 report that looked at the environmental impact of cows worldwide, including forest-clearing activity to create pasture land, it estimated that cows might be more dangerous to Earth’s atmosphere than trucks and cars combined.
In the United States, where average milk production per cow has more than quadrupled since the 1950s, fewer cows are needed per gallon of milk, so the total emissions of heat-trapping gas for the American dairy industry are relatively low per gallon compared with those in less industrialized countries.
[Read](http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/05/us/05cows.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss “Read the Article”) (New York Times)
Madison County Community Garden Sprouting Interest
A community garden in Madison County is bringing people together and giving the local economy a jumpstart at the same time.
The garden, located along Route 29, just opened to the community a week ago. The garden is giving the people of Madison a chance to take the locally grown food movement to a whole new level.
[Read](http://www.nbc29.com/Global/story.asp?S=10208124&nav=menu496_2_4 “Read the Article”) (NBC-29)
Chesapeake Bay Survey Shows Blue Crabs Rebounding
The number of blue crabs in the Chesapeake Bay has increased significantly over the past year, indicating that harvest limits designed to combat steep declines in the population appear to be working.
Results of the 2008-2009 winter dredge survey show that the number of female crabs in the bay doubled in the past year. Catch restrictions were aimed at preserving females so they could survive to produce the next generation.
Overall, the number of crabs in the bay increased from 280 million in 2007-2008 to more than 418 million in 2008-2009, officials estimate, a rapid and surprising rebound. The survey showed that the number of baby crabs held steady at 175 million.
To sustain the crab population, fisheries can safely harvest 46 percent of the total. Removing more than 53 percent can threaten the long-term survival of the population. In the past decade, the percentage of crabs harvested has been as high as in the 70 percent range. Last year, the figure was down to 50 percent.
[Read](http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-md.crabs18apr18,0,3204345.story “Read the Article”) (Baltimore Sun)
Watermen Searching for Ghost Pots of the Chesapeake Bay
Scientists estimate that more than 100,000 crab pots are abandoned — most are accidentally cut lose by boat propellers — annually off the shores of Virginia in the Chesapeake Bay.
The traps, also known as “ghost” or “derelict” crab pots, fall to the bottom of the bay, where they attract crab and fish for a year until the steel dissolves into salt water. Previous studies indicate the ghost pots can trap up to 50 crabs. They also catch fish, such as Atlantic croaker, oyster toadfish and white perch.
58 Virginian watermen participated in a debris-cleanup program created last fall after state regulators — concerned about preserving the crab population — closed the winter crabbing season for the first time in 105 years. The watermen earned $300 a day plus fuel costs, removing the crab pots.
As of March 6, the removal program had recovered 6,436 crab pots and other debris. Although in its embryonic stages, scientists hope the removal program will help boost the bay’s crab population, which dropped to 120 million last year, prompting a federal disaster declaration.
[Read](http://www.wtkr.com/news/dp-local_crabpots_0316mar16,0,6371892.story “Read the Article”) (WTKR)
Rabbits devastate island wildlife
The removal of cats in 2000 caused “catastrophic” damage to the ecology of a sub-Antarctic island.
Since cats were removed from [Macquarie Island](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macquarie_Island “Wikipedia”), rabbit numbers have soared, and they are now devastating plants. The rabbits have now caused so much damage to the island’s flora that the changes can be seen from space.
Cats previously kept a check on rabbits but were eradicated because they were also eating seabirds. The Australian government plans to eradicate rabbits, rats and mice from the island.
[Read](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7824153.stm “Read the Article”) (BBC)
Rainfall, Autism May Be Linked
Children living in areas of high precipitation may be more likely to have autism, according to a new study, but the researchers caution that the finding of a rainfall-autism link is preliminary.
**The finding may have nothing to do with the rainfall or snow itself, they say, but rather factors associated with the precipitation, such as the need to stay indoors more.**
“I strongly believe it’s not the precipitation itself,” he tells WebMD. “My sense is, if truly there is an environmental trigger, my guess is it is one of the factors related to indoor activity.” On that list: chemical exposure to indoor substances such as cleaning products, TV viewing, and vitamin D deficiency from too little sunlight.
[Read](http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/11/03/health/webmd/main4567342.shtml?source=RSSattr=Health_4567342 “Read the Article”) (CBS News)
Baby oysters settling in as newest Chesapeake Bay residents
Take 10,000 tons of concrete – in fist-sized and car-sized chunks – slather it with a layer of old shells and garnish with 500,000 baby oysters. What do you have? A recipe for Chesapeake Bay success, environmentalists and anglers hope.
For the first time, a Maryland group building artificial reefs has seeded one of its largest projects with oysters in an attempt to find a new way to coax the bay's most important resident back home. And in another first, Dominion, the Virginia-based energy company, has paid $250,000 for the naming rights.
Read (Baltimore Sun)
Risk of Disease Rises With Water Temperatures
When a 1991 cholera outbreak that killed thousands in Peru was traced to plankton blooms fueled by warmer-than-usual coastal waters, linking disease outbreaks to epidemics was a new idea.
Now, scientists say, it is a near-certainty that global warming will drive significant increases in waterborne diseases around the world.
Rainfalls will be heavier, triggering sewage overflows, contaminating drinking water and endangering beachgoers. Higher lake and ocean temperatures will cause bacteria, parasites and algal blooms to flourish. Warmer weather and heavier rains also will mean more mosquitoes. Fresh produce and shellfish are more likely to become contaminated.
“It will be the next few years. This is not 20 years away.”
[Read](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/19/AR2008101901533.html?nav=rss_nation/science “Read the Article”) (Washington Post)