Brendan Wilbur

Detailed Outline
Purpose: To educate readers on the issues in the Chesapeake as well as suggest solutions and
how to improve
Essential Question: What is the cause of the decline in stocks in the Chesapeake Bay, and
how can the bay be restored.
Thesis: The only way to save the suffering Chesapeake Bay, crippled by overfishing and
habitat loss, is to encourage conservation agreements and advocacy within the governments
and communities that make up the watershed
Intro:
o Talk about significant and gradual decline
o Historically, the Chesapeake Bay has been the most productive estuary in America.
Author H. L. Mencken called it an immense protein factory.1 And as recently as the
early 1990s, the Bays crabbing industry seemed healthy. After the decimation of
oysters, shad, and sturgeon, blue crabs are the Bays last remaining major fishery,
except for small schooling fish. (badwater article)
o
Topic 1: The Decline in Fish Stock (The problem)
o Topic Sentence: Fish stocks have been declining over time, but record lows have been
reached in the 20th century.
o Stocks have been declining. The major losses occurred in the 1970s but there still
are cycles of record lows.
o Chesapeake Bay Foundation: fisheries Article (Chesapeake Bay Foundation,
2017).
Many of the bays fisheries have been reduced in diversity and productivity.
Conservation as been compromised to accommodate allocation practices

Conservation: determining how many fish crabs and oysters can be

caught without harming the resource

Allocation: who gets to catch these resources and how

Shad have been reduced due to overfishing and damns blocking their travel
patterns
Menhaden are caught and ground down for fish oil
Oysters have suffered reduction in reefs and habitats
Striper have been devastated since the 70s

Stocks are historically low and reflect the levels in 1995.

Unfortunately, they do not have enough food in the form of menhaden

o Bad Water Article (Chesapeake Bay Foundation 2008).

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Blue crabs are the most important fishery in the bay

In 2007 waterman faced the lowest recorded crab harvest since records began
in 1945

Maryland and Virginia have suffered over $640 million in losses over the last
decade due to their decline.

4,486 crabbing jobs have been lost in the past decade

The harvest has plummeted two thirds since the 1990s

In 1948 there were only 60,000 pots in the water, in the 1990s there were
over 665,000 pots in the water

o Concurrent decline of blue crab (Lipcius, R. N., Stockhausen, W. T. (2002).)

been a concurrent, persistent and substantial reduction in the spawning stock,

recruitment, larval abundance, and female size (pg. 45)
The decline in spawning stock and recruitment was not progressive, but
rather a shift from a higher level in 1979 to 1991 to a lower level in 1992 to
2000. (56)

o Atlantic Striped Bass (Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission 2017).

Although their range is from main to Florida, the majority of the bass spend
the majority of their adult life in coastal estuaries as well as the ocean. This
is why the Chesapeake bay is vital

From 2005 to 2014, total coastal recreational harvest has ranged from a high
of 31 million pounds in 2006 to a low of 19.2 million pounds in 2012, with an
average of 26.2 million pounds. Landings from New York (29%),
Massachusetts (19%), New Jersey (18%), and Maryland (12%) have
comprised approximately 78% of annual recreational landings since 2005.
Recreational harvest in 2014 were estimated at 24.1 million pounds.

o Menhaden (NOAA 2015).

o Constitute the largest landings, by volume, along the Atlantic coast.

Brendan Wilbur

o Menhaden form a critical link between the lower and upper levels of the Chesapeake
Bay food web, because they are a key forage species for fish such as striped bass,
weakfish, and bluefish and are filter feeders
o Menhaden generally is considered unfit for human food consumption due to its small
size and high oil content, but the modern purse seine reduction fishery grinds
menhaden into fish meal and oil for use as an ingredient in pet foods, livestock and
aquaculture feeds, and various industrial products. East Coast landings of menhaden
have ranged from 300,000 to 400,000 metric tons annually since the mid-1970s.

o
Topic 2: The various causes (Overfishing and habitat decline)
o Topic Sentence: Although there are various reasons for the Bays Declined health,
overfishing and habitat decline have the largest impact on decreased populations.
o Research
o Badwater Article (Chesapeake Bay Foundation 2008)

Lack of habitat and grasses

o More than half of the bays eel grass has dissapeared since the 1970s

o Over buildup of nitrogen and phosphorus kills the grass they need for
protection

Overfishing

Fisherman catch more than 62% of the bays population of crab each
year and anything over 46% is not sustainable

Their habitat is in decline killing worms, oysters, and other bottom dwelling
invertebrates they crabs prey on
o Over 164,000 acres of oyster habitat have ben lost in the past 25 years just in
MD
o Without food crabs can even resort to cannibalism
o There is a prevalence of oxygen depleted dead zones during the summer
CB Cleanup (Motley 1988)
Excess nutrients like phosphorus and nitrogen caused surface algae so bad it blocked
sunlight and killed bottom grasses.
One of the first and most alarming signs of the Chesapeake's illness came in the
1970s, when scientists and others noticed that "submerged aquatic vegetation" was
disappearing.

The more [Nitrogen] they get, the faster they tend to growa phenomenon known as the
CO2 fertilization effect. (Kristen 2010).
Brendan Wilbur

Topic 3: Solutions, advocacy, and redefined allocation.

o Topic Sentence: In order to restore the bay, there is a need for legislation, advocacy,
and redefined allocation practices that are focused on conservation. (Significant part)
o Research: work this in as needed
Start with solutions to overfishing
This could include punishments as well
Also may include limited numbers, quotas, and catch share systems
End with revitalization on ecosystems
This includes agreements
o CB Watershed Agreement
o TDML sheets
End with incentives
o Badwater Article
Pennsylvania has led the way with incentives for pollution reduction with the
adoption of REAP (Resource Enhancement and Protection Act). It is a
transferable tax credit program available to farmers and businesses committed
to reducing pollution from farm fields and barnyards.
o CB Cleanup
To curb pollution from non-point sources, states have sponsored cost-sharing,
research, and education programs that promote "best management practices"
(BMPS). A project headed by Saied Mostaghimi at Virginia Polytechnic
Institute has shown the success of a BMP called no-till planting in which
seeds are sewn through a slit drilled in the soil; this leaves dead plant material
as a surface mulch. The method can cut runoff during a down-pour in half,
significantly reducing sediment, phosphorus, and nitrogen loss.
In Virginia, 1,444 farmers have adopted BMPS as a result of state programs.
The Chesapeake Executive Council notes that 58,594 Virginia acres have been
converted to BMP, saving 333,930 tons of sediment and reducing the
phosphorus soil particles carry by 33,760 pounds. A BMP called wet ponds,
used in Virginia's Fairfax County removes up to 87 percent of the silt and 80
percent of the phosphorus runoff from streets.
o Menhaden (NOAA 2017)
In May 2015, the Board approved a total allowable catch (TAC) of 187,880
metric tons per year for 2015 and 2016 for the entire Atlantic Coast, including
the Chesapeake Bay. This is a 10% increase from the 2014 TAC. The TAC
allocates a specific catch limit to each state. Maryland is allocated 1.37% of
the total coastwise catch; the Potomac River Fisheries Commission is
allocated 0.62%; Virginia is allocated 85.32%. States are required to close
their fisheries when they reach their specific catch allowance.
Reducing amount of fish allowed to be caught
Brendan Wilbur

o Most Significant is legislation: Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement

(Chesapeake Bay foundation 2014).
To restore and protect this national treasure, the Chesapeake Bay Program
partnership (the Partnership) was formed in 1983 when the Governors of
Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, the Mayor of the District of Columbia, the
Chair of the Chesapeake Bay Commission and the Administrator of the
Environmental Protection Agency signed the first Chesapeake Bay agreement.
That initial agreement recognized the historical decline of living resources
in the Chesapeake Bay and committed to a cooperative approach to fully
address the extent, complexity and sources of pollutants entering the Bay.
Still are continued challenges such as changes in population, loss of farm
and forest lands and changing environmental conditions.
Local government and individuals are key partners for the agreement to
be successful
Agreement encourages sustainable fisheries, vital habitat goals, water
quality, citizen stewardship, landscape and public acess goals
o Farmers doing their part to save the bay (Southeast Farm Press 2013)
Some form of erision control has been adopted on 97% of farmlands
Chesapeake bay farmers adopting different practices that have significantly
reduced nitrogen into the bay

Program is USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)

Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP)

since 2006, conservation practices applied by farmers and landowners are

reducing nitrogen leaving fields by 48.6 million pounds each year, or 26
percent and reducing phosphorus by 7.1 million pounds, or 46 percent

Reduced eroded soil by 15.1 million tons a year (enough to fill 150,000
railcars)

o The conservation efforts in total across the nation add more than $640 billion to the
economy

o There are over 84,000 farms in ranches in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed

Agriculture contribues 10 billion to economy

Potential Legal Punishments (Moore 2015).

o Under the Lacey Act, the U.S department of justice pushes to prosecute more fishing
offenses as environmental crimes.
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o One recent and extreme example was the prosecution of Michael D. Hayden of
Tilghman Island, Md. He was part of a four person striped bass poaching scheme that
illegally harvested over 185,925 pounds of striped bass between 2007 and 2011.
o Hayden must pay a $40,000 fine to the state of maryland as well as a $498,000 fee for
restitution to the federal govt. On top of this, he must serve an 18 year sentence in
prison.
o Although his punishment was severe, actions such as this are essential in order to
crack down on poaching. Typically, poachers ignore local and federal laws, as well as
conservation efforts in order to quickly generate a profit. This article is a good option
for my possible solutions section of my paper.

Chesapeake Bay Agreement form (Chesapeake Bay Program 2012)

o In 2009, Bay Program partners gathered input from citizens, stakeholders, academic
institutions, local governments to draft a goal oriented document that would address
environmental concerns.

o On June 16, 2014 the document was signed.

o Sustainable Fisheries Goal: Protect, restore and enhance finfish, shellfish and other
living resources, their habitats and ecological relationships to sustain all fisheries and
provide for a balanced ecosystem in the watershed and Bay.

o Vital Habitats Goal: Restore, enhance and protect a network of land and water
habitats to support fish and wildlife and to afford other public benefits, including
water quality, recreational uses and scenic value across the watershed.

Catch Shares: (Voice of America 2015)

o Old system is where officials determined how many fish could be caught each year

o This can lead to overfishing as well as unsafe and destructive fishing.

o Catch share system gives fisherman a set amount of fish to catch

Chesapeake bay cleanup

TDML Sheet

o
Brendan Wilbur

Conclusion
o Restate on how the bay is significant
o How it is a national treasure
o Largest bay in U.S and provides many significant environmental and ecological
benefits
o The bay can be restored
o End with a hopeful thought on the bays restored health and how it can be brought
back.