Chesapeake Bay Fisheries: An Overview

Austin, Herbert M.

Item

Chesapeake Bay Fisheries: An Overview

Austin, Herbert M.

Abstract

The value of the marine resources of the Chesapeake Bay is second only to its value as a transportation corridor. The oyster, blue crab and striped bass or rock fish, along with the sailboat, epitomize our vision of the Bay. Nowhere else do such important renewable natural resources co-exist so closely to man's residential and industrial activities. Over time, all natural resource distribution and abundance fluctuates in response to a normally fluctuating environment. Man's harvest adds an additional pressure, and in some cases recruitment levels cannot keep pace with consumer demand. In the Bay, pollutants, both intentional point source discharge, and unintentional non-point source run-off degrade the estuarine habitat and further reduce reproductive capabilities. Physical modification to the shoreline including bulkheading and filling, and daming of main tributaries such as the Susquehanna or James changes land run-off patterns thereby reducing the detrital energy source, and block spawning runs.