Comments to All Watermen
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Watermen
Fishin' Impossible
Massanutten Gov. S.-Newcomer
3/31/2008
As fishermen, we represent a portion of the constituency
whose lifestyle is and will be
directly and severely impacted by the degradation of the
Chesapeake Bay. As stakeholders
representing an industry worth over 500 million, we take
a significant interest in the
preservation of the health of the bay. Our livelihood
relies on the Bay, as does the
economic welfare of thousands of other people and
industries: the restaurant industry, the
tourism industry, and the commercial and private
boating industry are all directly impacted
by the quality of the health of the Bay.
The Bay suffers degradation due to pollution in effluent
levels. The primary pollutants
include excessive amounts of nutrients such as
phosphorus and nitrogen, sediments from
erosion caused by lack of wetland buffers, and harmful
chemicals introduced to the Bay by
runoff. These have precipitated effects such as
frequent algal blooms that lead to
eutrophication and a rise in water temperatures, causing
a reduction of the level of
dissolved oxygen in the water.
Fishermen in the Bay have observed a significant
decrease in catch rates of fish and
shellfish. The key factors in the loss of crabs have
been habitat loss and increased nutrient
load, with consistent harvesting at unsustainable
levels putting excessive stress on the
crabs. A recent study of the health of fish and
shellfish populations in the Bay found that
the Blue Crab is at 57% of its optimal biomass
existence. Oysters have also been severely
impacted by sedimentation and exist currently at 9% of
its optimal biomass existence. The
levels of striped bass, the most sought-after
commercially harvested fish in the Bay, had
plummeted from excessive, unsustainable harvest.
However, after the regulations on
commercial bass fishing were tightened, the striped bass
made a swift and hugely
successful rebound to its original numbers, now at 100%
of its optimal biomass existence
The most important issues in the restoration of the Bay
are reducing the levels of nutrients
flowing into the Bay, and promoting the sustainable
commercial harvest of vulnerable fish
and shellfish by enforcing higher restrictions on the
annual fish harvest. To reduce the
levels of nutrients entering the Bay, we propose to
lobby for incentives for farmers such as
tax breaks or subsidies for those who exercise
“best-management-practices.” BMPs such
as maintaining a riparian buffer zone between fields and
waterways, cover cropping, and
utilizing buffer strips are all methods that farmers can
use to reduce the infiltration of
excessive nutrients into the watershed, and also
drastically reduce erosion and soil
degradation. Offering tax breaks and other incentives
to farmers who utilize these
practices will provide the impetus for a grassroots
movement to help clean up the Bay.
While the incautious farming practices are a significant
cause of many of the Bay’s issues,
we, as fishermen, can participate in the effort to
restore the Bay’s health as well by seeking
alternate forms of part-time employment, abiding by new
laws and regulations, and
promoting an informative campaign. If fisherman found
part time jobs constructing cleaning
utilities and fish nurseries for the bay, they would
better be able to reduce their catch and
maintain their lifestyle. A congressional bill
tightening the restrictions on commercial fish
harvests would ultimately greatly reduce the stress on
the fish population of the Bay. If
the fish and shellfish of the Bay are not harvested at
sustainable levels, then we will
continue to deplete the population at alarming rates,
spelling ultimate doom for the aquatic
creatures on which we build our livelihoods. If more
stringent regulations are placed on the
commercial harvest of fish and shellfish of the Bay,
combined with efforts to reduce
nutrient levels, it is very likely that we may
observe a similar rebound in numbers of oysters, crabs,
and other fish.
Ask a Thoughtful Question or Respond
Thoughtful
Questions
From:
Home Jackets - homeowner - MHS
Ask
4/8/2008
I thought this was nicely done. It was definately
well-thought out, but what about
chemicals from industries entering waterways? Chemicals
cause a lot of problems in
the fish we eat.
Response
Fishin' Impossible - Waterman - MRGS
4/23/2008
Chemicals entering the Chesapeake Watershed definitely
affect the prosperity of
the Bay and thus you have a valid question. However,
the Chesapeake Bay
Foundation observed that irresponsible farming practices
have a much more
severe affect on the Bay in regard to the quantity of
nutrients entering the Bay.
Even though the industrial pollution will eventually
have to be addressed, the
agricultural pollution remains the most potent threat to
our lifestyle. Thus, we
decided that the installation of measures countering
industrial pollution must take
a back seat to the mass amounts of sediment
contaminating life in the Bay.
Seeing that solving the sediment problem and restoring
the aquatic biomass in the
Bay would immediately help our lifestyle, we decided
that that was the most
feasible and proper rout to take in regard to
maintaining the watermen lifestyle.
From:
Chicken Kickers'' 101 - farmer - MHS
Ask
4/11/2008
How do you know that your lifestyle will be impacted by
the degradation of the Chesapeake
Bay?
Response
Fishin' Impossible - Waterman - MRGS
4/23/2008
Our entire livelihood is dependent upon the state of
the Chesapeake Bay; all of
our income can be traced back to the quantity and
quality of the fish that we
catch. In addition, our lives have already been greatly
affected by the
degradation of the bay- dead zones have cordoned off
huge sections where we
used to be able to fish and those fish we do catch are
smaller and more sickly
than ever before. Therefore, it's quite easy to see how
the continued
degradation of the bay, would affect our lives and
livelihoods.
From:
Chicken Kickers'' 101 - farmer - MHS
Ask
4/11/2008
As fishermen, what would you be prepared to do if water
pollution got really bad?
Response
Fishin' Impossible - Waterman - MRGS
4/23/2008
As watermen, we depend on the Chesapeake Bay for many
things. It represents
our livelihoods, our jobs. It is a way for us to provide
for our families. If the Bay
is being polluted and fish are being killed, and this
degradation continues, it will
affect our ability to catch healthy fish. This will
affect our lifestyle because we
will not be able to support ourselves, and we will be
forced to try to find other
jobs or ways to compensate. This is not fair to us,
because as watermen, we have
a good understanding of what needs to happen to keep
the bay healthy, and we
do our best to maintain that health. Pollution and other
problems influencing the
water quality and aquatic life of the Bay would make it
harder for us to continue
catching as many fish as we are currently, and we would
eventually have to come
up with an alternative plan.
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Watermen
DORY-DORY FISH
Moorefield H.S.-Gillies
4/1/2008
Watersheds are important to waterman because we need the
fish. A fisherman is someone
who gathers fish, shellfish, or other animals from a
body of water. A waterman is a
professional fisherman. With the bay contaminated it is
hard to do our jobs with the fish
dying off. We sell fish to the fisharies so we can
survive. Most coastal residents and visitors
to the Chesapeake, who observe commercial fishing on
bay, and rivers, assume that we fish
asan activity, but we do it so we can bring home the
bacon and feed our families. Early
colonists did engage in fishing for both sport and
money. For a long time we just used a
simple hook and line. Then in the 18th Century we
started using haul seines, which are nets.
During the 19th Century, fishing rapidily expanding.
Annual marks of 48 million pounds. But
strangely by the end of the 19th Century, numbers were
dropping rapidily. You see that is
why fisherman are important and we need the Bay to be
clean, so we can bring those
numbers back up.
Fisherman rely on the Chesapeake Bay watershed for its
large waterways and fish
production. The quality of the Bay's watershed affects
the ability of fisherman to do their
job and make a profit off of it. With the Chesapeake Bay
being polluted, the number of fish
and the amount of species available in the water are
drastically changing. Run-off from
construction zones, nearby rural areas, and farmland
cause pesticides, sewage, and man-
made materials to wash into the bay. This impact on the
water increases the likelihood of
algae blooms which overtake the area and cause fish
kills, which damage the inhabitants and
the supply of fish available to local fishermen. There
have been government agencies that
have passed laws and groups that came up with plans to
stabilize the Chesapeake Bay
Watershed. However, having the awareness of people
living near the watershed should be
the first choice in clearing up the pollution and then
taking steps from there. Things can be
done like filtering the water of the bay and using zone
buffers in agriculture to stop
pollution, which requires help from others working as a
team. So with fish dying off, the
jobs of fisherman are likely to become exinct too.
Fisherman have to rely on the quality of
the water and the amount of fish, as do the consumers of
the product. If the cleanliness of
the water can't be trusted, then the health of the fish
need to be inspected. Working
together to keep the Chesapeake Bay clean is the best
affect that the fishermen could ask
for!
Waterman can make a living harvesting seafood on the
bay. When the Chesepeake Bay is
polluted their is a decline of creatures/seafood living
there. When variety and abundance of
seafood decline in the Chesepeake Bay the waterman are
out of work. The watermans life
revolves around the life cycles of his catch. Depending
on the season of the year, different
species are present in the rivers and the Bay. The
waterman nust be aware of what
creatures are available to catch as well as the laws
that govern how we can carry out out
job. A drought year makes the Bay saltier which results
in oyster diseases and more oysters
die before the waterman can harvest them. Every time
you use chemicals or fertlizers on
your lawnthe water running off teh yard eventually ends
up into a lake or stream and then
into the Bay. Anything that drips from a motor vehicle
can wash into storm sewers.
Antifreeze, gasoline and motor oil are toxic to aquatic
life. To help minimize the effect on
the bay read and follow the directions when using
pesticides or garden chemicals. Keep your
mowing height high and leave grass clippings on the
lawn to recycle nitrogen back into the
soil. Clean up pet wastes to prevent nutrients and
bacteria from washing into waterways.
When these types of chemicals wash into the Bay it
causes algae blooms, which die, decay, and destroy
oxygen levels. Sediment clogs gills and reduces light to
aquatic plants. Keeping the rivers and streams being
clean helps waterman out with their job.
Ask a Thoughtful Question or Respond
Thoughtful
Questions
From:
Fish's Wishes - CB_Ecosystem - KHS(K)
Ask
4/10/2008
How can you say something so naive like that? Just
because noone else in the past
did something about this doesn't mean that you shouldn't
care. Your conforming to
the foolishness of past generations and futhering the
stereotype that todays
generation isn't doing anything. You should care about
this. These are problems that
are going to affect our lifetime. Past generations were
unaware of afflictions they
were laying down for the future, that's why they didn't
do anything. WE the future
generation know better and we should do something about
it. Quit being lazy and get
BIG. Do work!
Response
DORY-DORY FISH - Waterman - MHS
4/11/2008
the reason we can say such a thing is because obviously
parents and
grandparents didn't care enough to keep it clean so why
should we go out of
our way to do something that isn't going to affect us in
this lifetime you also
should re-read our paper because we talked about several
solutions anyway
From:
SJJ Farmers - farmer - JHS
Ask
4/17/2008
What are you doing, as waterman, to help farmers?? What
solutions are you using to
clear up the water and how will it effect our crops and
the human race??
From:
The Counting Coals - Other - MRGS
Ask
4/23/2008
Why would you say that since our grandparents and our
parents don't care then we
shouldn't? If we want to improve things with the
watershed, we should care more. Don't
you want things to be better for your children and
grandchildren? If we start helping
now, then the tradition will stay, and others will help
to make it better for us. It makes
no sense to say that since others didn't care, we
shouldn't. Also, you may want to check
your spelling and grammatical errors, because there are
a couple in your paper.
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Watermen
Waterppl
Jefferson H.S.-Gipson
4/1/2008
Water careers are influentual to the cleanliness of the
Bay. Envoirmental issues that affect
these careers could condemn the efficency of their
jobs, income such as if the gov't ban
the use of boats on the river because of the pollution
it causes. Fishermans' livelyhood
depend on the use of their boats and the condition of
the river. If the Bay is dirty and
affects their fish, their income will drop affecting the
local economy.
Ask a Thoughtful Question or Respond
Thoughtful
Questions
From:
WV Watermen(T.B.D.) - Waterman - HHS
Ask
4/7/2008
what if the fisherman has no choice but to use the boats
that they have?
From:
DORY-DORY FISH - Waterman - MHS
Ask
4/8/2008
so what you are trying to say is that all the dirt is
coming from the boats, but if we
don't use them we would be out of a job? which one do
you want us to do, the boat
or lose our jobs?
In what ways could fisherman improve their boats
condition and keep the rivers
dependable against all of the pollution?
Response
Waterppl - Waterman - JHS
4/21/2008
Well not necessarily. People have a lot to do with it as
well. Littering is a huge
problem, maybe if people actually cleaned up once in a
while then we wouldn't be
in this predicament. I was not implying that boats
should be out of use completely.
Perhaps fishing companies could be combined, making
less pollution. Also when
there was a gas shortage (in the 1990's, I believe)
people with the last names a-m
(..?) could only buy gas on certain days. So maybe
something along the lines of
that..?
From:
Chicken Kickers'' 101 - farmer - MHS
Ask
4/8/2008
If the gov't would ban the use of boats would it affect
the use of row boats too?
From:
Home Jackets - homeowner - MHS
Ask
4/8/2008
So now that we know how you are affected by the rising
contamination levels, what
ideas do you have on how to lower the overall amount of
pollutants in the water
systems to make it safer for you and all others
involved?
Do they have to use there boats
From:
Funky Farmers - farmer - CHS
Ask
4/14/2008
We feel as if you didn't offer a solution to the problem
concerning the Chesapeake Bay.
Knowing that you are polluting, what do you propose
should be done to clean the Bay?
From:
The Pearls - local_gov - MdSA
Ask
4/16/2008
As the local government, we do know that the pollution
is not only due to the boats and
we know that without your boats, the jobs that depend on
the water would no longer
exist...We want to help regulate boating but in a
positive way that would not deeply
effect the economy of the people with water jobs...We
like fish too and so we are trying
to help improve the condition of the bay in all areas
including farmers and recreation...
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Watermen
WV Watermen(T.B.D.)
Hampshire H.S.-Moore
4/1/2008
We watermen are important to the Bay because we are the
ones who live at the end it.
Basically it is our lives because that’s how we make our
livelihood. Supporting our families
with the money we make from doing our job of catching
the Bay’s famous crabs’, shrimp,
and fish. Supporting the world is getting
harder as the days go by. With everyone now
dumping and polluting the rivers and streams that flow
into the Bay where we try and make
our living. We need to find a way to slow down process
of everyone polluting the Bay.
With the Bay having over 16 million residents we need
to find the best possible way of
nonpolluting the rivers and streams around the northern
states of the Bay. We could start
by enforcing the laws against keeping sewer pollution
and farm animals out of the rivers
and streams. So please for our Bay’s sake obey the law.
Ask a Thoughtful Question or Respond
Thoughtful
Questions
From:
DORY-DORY FISH - Waterman - MHS
Ask
4/8/2008
Who would your proposed laws affect the most, and what
are your other plans to
slow down pollution if your first progress is
unsuccessful?
From:
Chicken Kickers'' 101 - farmer - MHS
Ask
4/8/2008
What if some states allow animals in the river?
Response
WV Watermen(T.B.D.) - Waterman - HHS
4/10/2008
1:12:00 PM
Then we would have more pollution running through the
river causing more
damage to our atmosphere. Plus if people was to allow
animals in the rivers
and streams then the bank of the river will erode.
From:
Wishy Washy Watermen - Waterman - RHS
Ask
4/17/2008
How would you go about enforcing these laws and who
would help you enforce these
laws?
From:
Rollin' in the Green - Other - MRGS
Statement
4/23/2008
First of all, you seem to be blaming everyone else for
the problem.
Perhaps you could address the impact that the waterman
has on the pollution and other
problems in the Chesapeake Bay. Secondly perhaps you
could try not to repeat the fact
that you depend on the Chesapeake Bay as many times as
you have. Lastly, maybe you
could elaborate more on the causes of pollution, and the
preventative methods we should
use.
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Watermen
My Oyster Inc
Jefferson H.S.-Gipson
4/2/2008
We the fisherman/oysterman are very concerned with the
water quality of the Chesapeake
Bay. We are important because we catch fish and oysters
for other people to eat and if
those fish and oysters aren't clean then those people
will get sick and or die! If the bay is
nasty and dirty then the fish and oysters will not be
sold and we will not get paid so that
can affect our livelihood. We think the soulution
should be that we get people together that
have the same concern and just clean it up.
Ask a Thoughtful Question or Respond
Thoughtful
Questions
From:
DORY-DORY FISH - Waterman - MHS
Ask
4/8/2008
What would your plan be to get people together and what
steps would you take to
clean up the water?
From:
Chicken Kickers'' 101 - farmer - MHS
Ask
4/8/2008
What is polluting the water?
From:
fishies - CB_Ecosystem - MHS
Ask
4/8/2008
How do the fisherman purpose that we can clean up the
bay? Where do you think
they should start? It may be complicated to just tell
people to go and clean up the
bay. How should they do this?
From:
Chicken Kickers'' 101 - farmer - MHS
Ask
4/8/2008
What would be a way to clean the bay up?
Response
My Oyster Inc - Waterman - JHS
4/22/2008
Some farmers when they dump their animals waste in the
water and people that
dump their trash in the water.
From:
DORY-DORY FISH - Waterman - MHS
Ask
4/8/2008
What other solutions would you suggest to clean up the
Bay?
From:
We Care, As Long As You Care - developer - CHS
Ask
4/11/2008
Do you think that you have a more powerful impact
locally or nationally? Also, how does
that position affect the types of legistlation or
changes in regulations for fishing that you
would support?
From:
Because we said so. - local_gov - JWHS(T)
Ask
4/15/2008
what are some possible solutions we could have to clean
up the bay? what can we do, as
your local gov't, to help you out with the condition and
cleanliness of the water?
Response
DB Defenders - Waterman - JWHS(T)
4/15/2008
Taking all the oysters out of the bay is'nt very good
and there isn't a big
abundance of them.They clean the bay and we need them.
You can't just worry about selling the fish and
oysters.By the way you spelled
soulution wrong,it's spelled solution.
From:
fi$h hunter$ - Waterman - MdSA
Ask
4/16/2008
How do you plan on funding the restoration of the Bay?
Also, what ways do you suggest
we use to motivate others to stop polluting the water?
From:
Wishy Washy Watermen - Waterman - RHS
Ask
4/17/2008
Okay you say that you would get everyone together to
clean up the Chesapeake Bay, do
you know how much money that would take? Its an
interesting number. I suggest you
find out, you'll be surprised.
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Watermen
bad bass fishermen
Buffalo Gap H.S.-Riley
4/3/2008
As watermen, we should ask the government
for a fund that would allow us to use
filters in the main rivers that run into the bay. This
would help us reduce the pollution in the
bay. The BBF believe that the filters would help the
bay. Which in the long run it will raise
the marine life; support a better ecosystem for humans
as well as the fish. This will raise
our profits as fisherman. Doing this will help the whole
environment it self just by doing this
maybe the community will help out by recycling and
cleaning out the bay and rivers and
keeping junk out of the bay, improving the environment.
We would like for the communities
that are contributing to the pollution that ends up in
the bay to reduce their pollutants and
all if possible.
We as the BBF, believe that we should begin the long
process to raising the money needed
to begin the cleanup of the bay. To raise this money we
think that the government should
raise taxes of community members, as well as provide an
incentive for those organizations
that contribute to the clean up through money
donations. These incentives could include a
tax rebate to those people who provide monetary
donations to the Chesapeake Bay cleanup.
Ask a Thoughtful Question or Respond
Thoughtful
Questions
From:
Yellow Lemons - recreation - JWHS(T)
Ask
4/11/2008
this was very well written but i dont completly
understand the use of filters. What exactly
are the they and are they big? And also is there any
other ways to raise money besides
raising taxes?
Response
bad bass fishermen - Waterman - BGHS
4/25/2008
The filters are big and they help filter out debris and
other harmful sudstances.
There are many other ways of raising money besides
raising taxes. Such as fund
raisers, selling resources from the chesapeake bay, and
protests.
Response
Anti-Wilderness Progressive Movement -
4/15/2008
I think what our saying is right but can you really say
you care about the
enviroment when you kil of massive amounts of fish to
feed people.
Response
bad bass fishermen - Waterman - BGHS
4/25/2008
Well basically we have to kill fish to feed humans.
Thats the way the enviroment
works. Its called the food chain.
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Watermen
Fisher Man
James Wood H.S.-Fordyce
4/8/2008
I am a fisherman. I fish out of the Chesapeake Bay
watershed. But here lately there have
been some problems with fishing in that area. The reason
for this is because people are
careless and cold hearted, people have been polluting
this watershed for a while now. And
when you pollute the water that people get their
drinking water from or pollute the water
that people like me who fish in the water that is being
polluted lose their money, because
the fish are being killed due to the pollution. I think
that if people cared a little more about
the bay then we could make an effort to clean it up.
Away that I could try to help to the
contribution of cleaning it up would be, not to allow
the fish population to get up to high.
But I can’t make my living if the fish that I need are
being killed due to pollution. If people
did start truing to keep it clean the solutions would
have a cost. Because millions of dollars
of fish are sold each day. And we would have to pay some
people to pick up trash unless we
could get enough volunteers. Another way would be to
only take the amount of fish
needed, and the supplies taken aboard a ship is recycled
and taken off at the end of a
voyage.
Ask a Thoughtful Question or Respond
Thoughtful
Questions
Response
awesomley amazing super spectacular
4/15/2008
I believe that you are right fisherman we shouldnt have
to pay people to clean up
the water. The people around us who pollute the water
should be responsible for
it and clean it themselves but us not knowing who did
it. It will be really hard even
impossible to figure out who does pollute the water.
From:
The Counting Coals - Other - MRGS
Ask
4/23/2008
Most of the pollution in the Chesapeake Bay is not a
result of boating industry. So having
the fishermen recycle does not solve the issue at hand.
What problems specifically
affect the fish? After you address these, then perhaps
you could pin point solutions.
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Watermen
Redneck Story
James Wood H.S.-Fordyce
4/8/2008
Hi, I’m a fisherman and I love fish. The fish are
dying fast which means my job is going to
be no more. There are toxic wastes in my pond. I don’t
know how they got there. I didn’t do
it. I love my fish. They provide me nutrition and
energy. They should restore the
Chesapeake Bay so we can try and save our ecosystem.
Also if they clean the water system
our drinking water will be clean as well, which not
only help the people, but the government
as well. It will help the government because it will
stop all the comments made about the
bay, and will get local homeowners to quiet down. If
they were to do this it would help
many others like farmers and home owners. I would help
by cleaning up the watershed.
They could also fix the “dead zones” in the bay. The
“dead zones” are water without
oxygen. Fish have to have a oxygen to survive; just like
we need water to survive. Makes
sense don’t it. Cleaning the bay wouldn’t cost me a
thing, but it would cost time. It will be
good for my fishing because my fish will be clean and
nutritious. I can’t promise anything,
because I don’t think anything could be done to help my
group participate, because they
would participate no matter what we love fish and want
to save them. If something isn’t
done soon we will lose all our fish. I need fish to
survive so I can survive. If fish don’t live
in the bay anymore then there will no fishermen. Which
means no fish. And that’s my reason
for cleaning the bay.
Ask a Thoughtful Question or Respond
Thoughtful
Questions
From:
LG8 - local_gov - JWHS(F)
Statement
4/14/2008
i like the story ilike the part about the fish provide
me nutrition
From:
Big Mighty govern - CBP_Fed - JWHS(F)
Ask
4/14/2008
dude dont you think you could have been more serious in
wht u wrote its not a big joke
its a serious thing and ur just making a joke out of it
Response
The Fishermen Bay Problem - Waterman -
4/14/2008
Very well written. The author stuck to the title very
well. Perfect redneck.
From:
fi$h hunter$ - Waterman - MdSA
Ask
4/16/2008
What methods would you prescribe for cleaning up the
Bay? For instance, would you try
to limit non-point pollution, etc.?
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Watermen
The Fishermen Bay
Problem
James Wood H.S.-Fordyce
4/8/2008
We the fishermen of the Chesapeake Bay, have a problem
with people poisoning our money
maker (water). We can not make money with the way that
the water is now. Just think;
with us not making money, you will not have fish,
oysters, and crabs to eat. You will also be
swimming in a bay full of pollution from farms,
factories, and just plane litter from people
just like me and you. You might think that you’re just
throwing a cup away, but when you do
it all the time, you end up putting out enough
pollution to harm a whole lake. All pollution is
harmful. It’s up to you to keep the food chain going.
We have come up with a solution to just travel to
different farms and factories that are
near any part of the bay and just show them what is
harming our beautiful bay. It would
not cost much to travel to these places. The only
expenses would be for gas, food, and a
hotel room if need be. The only way that we can make our
solution work is to convince
people to change how their factory is harming us. If one
person changes the way the work,
the process is successful. If the problem gets bad
enough to destroy the fisherman
population, then all of the fish, oysters, and crabs
that you eat will be gone.
Ask a Thoughtful Question or Respond
Thoughtful
Questions
From:
Yellow Lemons - recreation - JWHS(T)
Statement
4/23/2008
I agree with what you are doing by traveling to convince
the surrounding farms and
factories to show them how they are harming the bay and
ways to help stop it. The first
step in helping the bay is to educate others and that
what is what your doing. Great idea.
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Watermen
DB Defenders
James Wood H.S.-Takarsh
4/9/2008
As watermen, we contribute to the local and
regional economies through the expenses
of conducting business and harvesting the products of
the Chesapeake Bay. We also help to
maintain a steady population of fish in order to ensure
the bay remains healthy. If the
health of the bay becomes poor then we will suffer
because there will not be as many fish
to catch and sell.
The pollutants that are currently flowing into the
Chesapeake Bay can have serious
consequences for the health of the fish and shellfish of
the bay. Pesticides, herbicides, and
daily waste created by humans flow into the waters and
cause hormonal changes in the
aquatic and plant life. This directly effects the fish
and shellfish population.
Ideally, we would like to see strict regulations
enforced regarding the amount of
fertilizer that farmers can use in their fields and to
have no development along the water.
In order to compromise we would like to find a middle
ground on how much fertilizer
farmers can use and to educate the public on how their
actions effect the bay. We would
also like to have no development within 1500 feet of the
bay. There would be some
exceptions for necessary devlelopment.
Ask a Thoughtful Question or Respond
Thoughtful
Questions
From:
Anti-Wilderness Progressive Movement - developer -
JWHS(T)
Ask
4/15/2008
well as much as i respect your opinion you are being
very selfish to the fish by killing
them. I bet the fish would rather die of natural causes
than die because you decide you
need more money.
Response
DB Defenders - Waterman - JWHS(T)
4/21/2008
I don't know how we are selfish because we need to kill
fish to eat and keep
them from overpopulating. I didn't know you were
Dr.Dolittle and you could talk
to fish. Although I respect your right to have an
opinion I do not respect your
opinion. I will admit I do harvest fish for profit.
There I said it! So send me a
response of what are the fish saying now.
From:
fi$h hunter$ - Waterman - MdSA
Statement
4/16/2008
Dear Anit-Wilderness, Why do you think that the fish
would rather die of natural
causes? How do you know exactly what they want? I'm
pretty sure that most fishes
don't die from old age; they die from getting eaten.
From:
Shenandoah Junction Farmers Inc. - farmer - JHS
Ask
4/16/2008
How can the farmers be blamed for everything because we
provide the food you eat,
the clothes you wear, and a lot of the things you use
everyday. Do you want the prices
of food, clothes, and many of the household idems? If
not you amy want to change your
feelings and figure out the real facts before you sit
her and try to say farmers are to
blame for our problems. As farmers we try and dou our
best with what we have. Try
and find all the facts before you jump on one side?
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Watermen
fi$h hunter$
Mount de Sales Acad.-Sargo
4/14/2008
As fishermen of the Chesapeake Bay, we are very
concerned about the Bay’s health. As
watermen, we harvest a variety of seafood in different
seasons. We rely on the Bay for
our livelihood. Watermen are essential to the Chesapeake
Bay because we provide American
citizens with food. We also help keep the food chain in
check by controlling the organism
population. Lastly, we add to the economy. Watermen are
greatly affected by the problems
the Bay faces because contamination of fish can force
us out of a job. Pollution in the
water also changes where fish live, therefore where we
catch them.
Possible solutions for the Bay pollution problem
affect us in many ways. Limitations on
fishing decrease our potential profits, volunteer work
uses up our personal time, and
restrictions on boating can cost us both money and time.
As fishermen, we prefer to
volunteer with restoration efforts because it would not
take away from our income.
However, volunteer work would take up our precious time.
In the long run, these solutions
will benefit us because they’ll create healthier and
larger populations of seafood. If we do
not cooperate, our jobs will be at stake. Another
motivating factor for participating in Bay
cleanup is if the population of some species becomes so
depleted, the government might be
forced to revoke fishing licenses. If the citizens focus
more on removing nutrients, as
opposed to restrictions on fishing, this would allow us
to have the same income. We could be
greatly injured as watermen by the process of fixing
the Bay if the government decided to
drastically restrict fishing. However, if the pollution
problem continues at this rate, we will
eventually be out of jobs.
Ask a Thoughtful Question or Respond
Thoughtful
Questions
From:
fi$h hunter$ - Waterman - MdSA
Ask
4/15/2008
What methods would you prescribe for cleaning up the
Bay? For instance, wuld you limit
non-point pollution, etc?
From:
DB Defenders - Waterman - JWHS(T)
Statement
4/23/2008
Fi$h Hunter$, thanks for responding to our question and
sticking up for us against the
Anti-Wilderness Progressive Movement-developer-. Your
response was very awesome
and funny.
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Watermen
Fish Slime
Rappahannock H.S.-Settle
Menhaden
4/15/2008
Menhaden fish processing is an industry that takes
menhaden out of the Chesapeake
Bay. The fish are very oily and they average 12 to 15
inches in length and weigh from two-
thirds to one pound. Every year, 851,129,000 pounds of
these fish are harvested by
Omega Protein from the east coast and bay. After cooking
the solid material is used for
fertilizer and protein supplement in animal feed and the
oils are used as supplements for
animal and human food including Omega-3 capsules.
Omega-3 is a oil processed by Omega Protein in
Reedville, VA and other companies. The
vitamin is very popular because it is thought to help
lower cholesterol, prevent heart
disease, and other chronic conditions. Omega Protein is
worth over $110 million. This plant
provides over 250 jobs for the Reedville area and over
1100 jobs along the east cost.
These fish play a significant part in the
Chesapeake Bay waters. They fish are the
forage fish of the Chesapeake Bay, which means that they
provide a food source to many
of the bay’s organism. They also play a substantial part
in filtering the bay waters by eating
algae and other microscopic plants that would therefore
build up drastically if they were
not there. They are a main food source for many fish in
the bay such as bluefish.
Although the menhaden industry provides many jobs
for the area, we feel a
compromise needs to be made with the industry. If the
menhaden industry should decrease
their fish intake by 10% until they could prove that
the population of menhaden in the bay
increases. If fishermen continue to take these vast
numbers without making a sufficient
research to document that they are not harming the bay
food web, the quality of the
waters will drastically decrease due to algae build up
and other organisms that may pollute
the bay.
http://www.gma.org/fogm/brevoorHA_tyrannus.htm
http://www.omegaproteininc.com/products.html
http://www.foragefish.org/atlantic_menhadden.html
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Watermen
Going... Going...
GONE!!!
Rappahannock H.S.-Settle
Blue Crabs
4/15/2008
The Chesapeake Bay is the most prestigious
watershed in Virginia. It is located off the
Atlantic Ocean and surrounded by Maryland and Virginia.
The Chesapeake Bay is home to
many amazing creatures from manatees to oysters to
menhaden, but one interesting
keystone bottom dweller is the Blue Crab. These blue
crabs are found mostly in the shallow
waters of the bay.
The Latin name for the Blue Crab is Callinectes
sapidus which means beautiful swimmer.
These kinds of crabs live off of a variety of things,
such as plants, animals, both living and
dead. These consist of mostly fish, menhaden, and worms
or whatever else it can scavage
from the waters floor. Crabs spend most of their life in
brackish or low salinity waters but
the eggs hatch much better in saltier waters. Crab larva
or Zoea is very sensitive to
temperature and salinity change. Crabs are very prone to
diseases but are also very
cannibalistic and cannot be crowded together which makes
commercial farming of them
difficult.
Mating and migration are closely connected with
each other. Mating takes place in late
summer and early fall. The males and females attract
each other by their pheromones.
Even though crabs live mostly in brackish waters they
often migrate to higher salinity
waters to mate because the eggs hatch much better. In
the fall, after mating, the female
crab migrates to the southern part of the bay.
The methods of crabbing are reducing the numbers of
crabs itself in the Chesapeake
Bay. Methods like jimmy crabbing(a male crab is put in
the crab pot to lure mature
females) and peeler pots focus on only female crabs.
That causes the limitation of crabs
because those females have about 2 million eggs,
depending on the female crab herself.
Only one in a million actually survives the whole ordeal
of growing. In 2005, the crab
harvest was below 46 percent of the adult population,
which conserved 20 percent of the
breeding stock. Then again in 2006 and 2007, the
population of the crabs in the Bay
remained low again. The most vulnerable crabs that get
caught are the crabs that have
just gone to molt and gotten in their juvenile stage of
their life cycle.
Crabs are an important part of the Chesapeake Bay
like the food web in and out of the
water. The problems with the crabber focusing on only
the female crabs are lowering the
numbers of their population since 2005. To make the
population go back and for there to
be no problems for the crabs there has to be a
protection law limiting the number of
female crabs being caught. To make a law to protect the
crabs makes a higher population
which is a huge help to make the Chesapeake Bay a better
watershed.
Ask a Thoughtful Question or Respond
Thoughtful
Questions
From:
fi$h hunter$ - Waterman - MdSA
Ask
4/16/2008
How much of a limit on catching blue crabs do you
propose? If the limit is too high, then
crabbers aren't going to make as much money.
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Watermen
Bay Pearls
Rappahannock H.S.-Settle
Oysters
4/15/2008
The Chesapeake Bay is one of the largest bodies of water
in the entire world. The bay’s
watershed covers about 64,299 square miles in the
District of Columbia, New York,
Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and West
Virginia. There are approximately one
hundred and fifty rivers and streams that drain into the
bay. It is called an estuary, which
is where fresh water from rivers meets the salt water
of the ocean. The Bay and its
resources are what shape our history, culture, and
economy. It provides many jobs for
people who live near it. The Bay is the major source of
all different types of seafood that
are edible. Oysters live in the reefs of different
waters. About one hundred years ago,
reefs were so massive that they posed a navigational
hazard to ships. Oyster reefs can
have fifty times the surface area of an equally
extensive flat bottom. It provides habitat
for an enormous range of other animals, such as worms,
snails, sea squirts, sponges, small
crabs, and fishes. The oysters help the bay in many
different ways. They help trigger the
cleanup for the bay, and help meet some of the Bay’s
water quality goals. The offsets of
the Oysters are needed for sharp nutrient reductions
throughout the watershed. Different
sizes of Oysters take different jobs in filtering the
bay. For instance, large oysters can
filter up to two gallons of water an hour during warm
summer months. This process
removes sediment and phytoplankton in the process. For
water clarity, oysters might
provide an important boost for attaining the Bay
Program’s goals. The bay once had huge
oyster populations which could have filtered a water
volume equivalent to the Chesapeake in
a matter of days. Today’s population in oysters is
estimated to be less than 1% of historic
levels because of over-harvesting, disease, and decline
in habit quality (Bay Journal).
Foreign oysters are very threatening in our waters to
natural oysters. Natural predators,
such as sea anemones, sea stars, sea nettles and other
filter feeders, eat oyster’s larva.
Flatworms and small crabs consume new spat for oysters.
In order to make a better
environment for oysters, you need to lesson pollution,
limit oyster fishers, and extend more
reefs throughout the bays and rivers. If they lessoned
pollution it would create a better
environment. If they limited oyster fishers they could
help the bay become cleaner through
increased oyster population and improved water clarity.
If they made more reefs it would
extend the bay habitat for the oyster population so it
can grow.
http://www.bayjournal.com/article.cfm?article=2437
http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=10796&pa1.com
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Watermen
bushels of money
Rappahannock H.S.-Settle
oysters
4/15/2008
Oysters are used for many different things. They
are use to filter the bay, and as food
for humans and other animals. The oysters are also what
make the reefs in the bay.
An interesting fact is that only 2 percent of
historic levels of oysters are left. The
eastern shore oyster has a very interesting life cycle.
Oysters are broadcast spawners,
which mean they release eggs and sperm into the water. A
fertilized egg will develop into a
plank-tonic, free-swimming, trochophore larva in about
six hours. Within 12 to 24 hours a
fully shelled veliger larva is formed. The larva remains
plank-tonic for about three weeks.
At the end of the period it soon develops a foot (hence,
pediveliger) and settles to the
bottom of the water column where it seeks a hard
substrate. When it is on a suitable
surface, usually on an adult oyster shell, the larva
cements itself and metamorphoses to
the adult form. This newly attached oyster is known as a
spat. Adult oysters begin this
reproduction process when water temperatures become
greater then 68F(20C).
This oyster is found along the Atlantic Ocean and
the Gulf of Mexico coasts. These
oysters form reefs, which are an amazing feature of many
coastal estuaries. Oysters are
considered “keystone species,” and providing valuable
shelter and habitat for many other
estuarine organisms, improving water quality, and
reducing bank erosion.
The oyster is an amazing organism in several different
ways. Typically oysters are found in
estuaries, sounds, bays, and tidal creeks, which
consist of brackish water (5 parts per
thousand [ppt] salinity) to full strength seawater (35
ppt salinity). Oysters are tolerant
organisms, they are able to withstand wide variations in
temperature, salinity, and
concentrations of suspended sediments and dissolved
oxygen. Oysters occur mostly in
subtital areas.
Oysters are filter feeders, which cleans up the
ocean. While they are performing their
job they take in toxins and bacteria that are the water.
One bacteria causes death or
illness to a human is called Vibro Bacteria. These
bacteria can be found in raw oysters.
Vibro bacteria can be very harmful to those who have
pr-existing health problems. The way
to kill this bacteria is by putting raw oysters in high
proof human –consumable alcohol.
Then leave them in the fridge for about a week to make
sure that they are disinfected. The
bacteria found in oysters are more dangerous for
pregnant women than for other people.
The illness in a pregnant woman is likely to cause any
harm to the fetus. Pregnant woman
are specifically warned because they can lose their
child. The people who get this infection
can get a cure for the bacteria Tetracycline helps to
slow the duration of the symptoms.
The pregnant woman are not recommended because can cause
yellowing or discoloration in
the infant’s teeth.
The problem is that the bay is running low on
oysters. We also low on supplies of what is
needed to bring them back. In order for a brand new
oyster to survive it needs to be able
to latch onto a solid, protected surface and grow. The
surfaces that they have usually been
growing on would be old oyster shells either on or
around the reefs. It has been proven
that in the last centuries the reefs have been knocked
down by people.
One thing that scientist are trying to do is set aside
10 percent of oyster grounds. They
are doing this because of the reef construction. This
project will be a very difficult
project. In order to restore 8 small reefs we need to
200 acres of the bottom and about
2 million bushels of shells. They are taking these
oyster shells from the oyster shucking
houses.
There is a catch to the reconstruction of the reef
though. They need some nooks or
holes so that they oyster can settle into. If the
oysters are settled on exposed surfaces
then they become prey for the other animals in the
ocean. Another problem is that too
much space can put them in danger as well. So basically,
the only way to get the population
up again is by restoring the reefs.
http://score.dnr.sc.gov/deep.php?subject=2&topic=15
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_do_oysters_affect_pregnant_women
http://www.aphrodisiology.com/oysters
http://www.bayjournal.com/article.cfm
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Watermen
The Manhaden
Rappahannock H.S.-Settle
4/15/2008
The Chesapeake Bay watershed stretches 64,000 Miles
and includes the 6 states:
Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia and
West Virginia. There are over
100,000 streams or tributaries that run into Chesapeake
Bay. This means that there are
many people that affect the watershed in multiple ways.
One of these ways is through
commercial fishing in the Bay and its tributaries. The
fish that are fished commercially
include bass, blue fish, catfish, black drum, flounder,
perch, and trout.
The most fished fish in the bay is the menhaden,
which makes up almost half of the
total number of fish caught. There are over 400,000
menhaden caught in the Chesapeake
Bay each year. This has caused the population of
menhaden to drop by half in the last ten
years. Many commercial fish like the striped bass and
the blue fish feed on menhaden.
When the population of menhaden drops it directly
affects the amount of these fish that
can survive. Right now there is a low restraint on the
fishing of menhaden in the Chesapeake
Bay.
One of the most popular means of fishing today is
charter fishing. Charters charge on
average $660 for an eight our trip for 6 anglers and
then an additional $50 for each
additional fisherman. This includes the cost of the gear
that is provided. Charter boats in
the Chesapeake can hold from 6 passengers to 36
passengers. Since this is the most
common means of commercial fishing in the Chesapeake, we
believe that there should be
more regulations on these charter boats. Cutting down on
the number of passengers in a
charter boat would help, with 36 people fishing in one
area, an underwater community can
become depleted.
Over fishing is a major problem that is
continuously increasing every year. However,
these solutions do work. We have seen fish species in
the Chesapeake reach near extinction
and regulations have brought them back to their normal
population. About 20 years ago
rockfish were almost completely wiped out of the Bay and
its tributaries. With the help of
the regulating of the fishing of rockfish they are now
very plentiful. This was not until long
ago, the striper fish, which nearly became extinct in
the 1970’s. This decline in population
directly affects the amount of predator fish that can
survive. Fish that fed on the rockfish
were also depleted by their over fishing.
All we ask is that the number per year be cut down
15% which will assist in cleaning up
the Bay and will keep around more commercial fish for
commercial fishermen. We should
also limit the days that the charter boats can fish.
Tuesdays and Thursdays could become
days where charter boat fishing is prohibited. This way
there can be less people fishing in a
single area and we can avoid over fishing in the
Chesapeake Bay.
www.dnr.state.md.us/bay/cblife/fish/channel_catfish.html.
www.dnr.state.md.us/fisheries/fishfacts/idex.asp
www.chesapeakebay.net
www.chesapeakebaysportfishing.com/
www.chesbay.org/compiledData/monthlylanding.asp?m=o&y=2000
www.bayjournal.com?article.cfm?article=683
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Watermen
back fin
Rappahannock H.S.-Settle
crabs
4/15/2008
There are different types of crabs in the world
such as; fresh water, blue crabs,
terrestrial, pea crab, and the Japanese spider crab. The
blue crab is the most important to
the Chesapeake Bay. Crabs are covered with a thick
exoskeleton or shell and have a single
pair of claws. A normal crab has ten legs including the
claws. The mouthparts are covered
by maxilipeds. The gills of crabs are formed of
flattened plates, resembling those of
shrimp, but have a different structure.
As crabs grow or age they go through a process
known as molting. This means they
shed their shell in order to make room for the growth of
a new shell forming underneath.
When the crab has shed its’ shell, it then becomes a
“soft shelled” crab. Blue crabs live
approximately three years, after completing seven
different larval stages including floating
like plankton until they grow into their adult forms.
At roughly twelve to eighteen months
of age, both males and females mate. The shape of the
underbelly of the crab shows if the
crab is male or female. After the crabs mate, the males
will usually head for the lower
salinity waters in of the Chesapeake Bay, and females
will head for more salty waters
where the Bay flows into the Atlantic Ocean.
Blue crabs are omnivores, although some feed off of
algae. Others take any type of
food, for example some eat mollusks, worms, and other
crustaceans, fungi, bacteria, and
detritus. Not only are crabs predators but also prey -
birds, fish, humans, and even other
blue crabs also hunt them. Fish that are predators
include the stripped bass, drums, eels,
catfish, cow nose rays, and sharks.
The biggest blue crabs, known as #ones, cost between
ninety to one hundred dollars for a
bushel. On the fourth of July weekend the price
dramatically increases to two hundred
dollars. A small commercial crabber spends about one
thousand dollars on licenses a year.
If asked, some crabbers will not tell how much they
caught or what they make; however,
by regulation, they are required to report their catch
each month to the Game and Inland
Fisheries Commission. Recreational crabbers are allowed
to drop a small number of pots
without heavy regulation; for example, people who live
on the water could have a pot to
catch crabs at their dock.
Some people feel crabs are being fished to their
capacity in the Chesapeake Bay
ecosystem. In some years so many females, also known as
sooks, were being caught in the
harvesting of crab pots, the population was not able to
replenish itself to the previous
quantity. There are many crabbing regulations that aim
to limit these population declines,
which include the time allowed to crab, the size of the
crab kept, and many other rules.
The regulations have helped but there are other areas in
need of further conservation
efforts. Continued education about the Chesapeake Bay
watershed and the results of
pollution will also help. The submerged aquatic
vegetation (SAV) that provides shelter for
the younger crabs is under a great decline as a result
of lower water quality and murkier
waters, because of soil and fertilizer runoff. This
unfortunately leaves room for the
unwanted algae growth. Algae blocks the sunlight
limiting the growth of proper vegetation
needed for the young crabs to survive.
The crabbers in the Chesapeake Bay are in need of
more restrictions as to how many
females can be caught in a month, so that the population
can replenish itself. Also they
need more of a limit on how many crabs, male or female,
can be caught in a year. The
restrictions need to be brought to the people that crab
off of their private docks as well.
The restrictions will be a start to help the quantity of
the crabs come back up. There
needs to be enforcement of runoff, nutrient, and
sediment reduction requirements already
mandated by law.
Cites:www.bayjournal.com/article.cfm?article=707
http://wikipedia.org/wiki/crab
www.dhr.state.md.us/bay.cblife/benthos/blue_crab/savecrab
www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/209htm17/11/16/AR2009111602259.html
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Watermen
Wishy Washy Watermen
Rappahannock H.S.-Settle
4/16/2008
The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary out of
130 estuaries in the United States. It POV:
is 200 miles long and 3.4 miles wide in range. The Bay
holds more than 15 trillion gallons of
water. It is shallow; only 21 feet in depth. The Bay
supports more than 3,600 species of
plants, fish and animals. It is a commercial and
recreational resource for more than 16
million people. The Bay produces about 500 million
pounds of seafood a year. The total cost
for cleaning up the Bay would be about $18.7 billion.
The Chesapeake Bay Watermen make a living
harvesting a wide variety of marine life.
The occupation of a waterman includes: pound netters,
crabbers, oyster dredgers, hand-
tongers, gill-netters, and clammers. Most work year long
to adapt their equipment to the
conditions of the seasons. In the summer they harvest
crabs, in the winter they harvest
oysters, and in the fall and spring they may harvest eel
or finfish.
The blue crabs habitat consists of bay grasses. The
bay grasses are important because
they protect juvenile crabs, molting adult crabs, and
feeding adult crabs from predators.
The worst thing is that the blue crabs are losing their
habitats because of the poor water
quality and irregular weather conditions.
Scientists estimate the population of blue crabs
was about 78 percent of the targeted
goal of 200 million blue crabs. The Bay scientists use
an annual Bay-wide winter dredge
survey as an indicator of how many blue crabs there are
in the Chesapeake Bay. The 2006-
2007 survey said that there were about 273 million crabs
in the Bay.
The Chesapeake 2000 Agreement made a document that
said they would restore water
quality by 2010 to preserve the land and to provide
environmental education to the
students that are located in the Chesapeake Bay
Watershed. The estimated total that the
region would need to invest to achieve this goal is
between $1-2 billion every year.
The Chesapeake Bay was an open fishery and is now
tightly regulated by Virginia,
Maryland and the federal government. The blue crab
population has been decreasing
because of disease, over harvesting and loss of habitat.
The watermen have been blaming
the decrease of the blue crabs on pollution. This may be
true, but watermen are also over
harvesting. They blame the decreasing population on
pollution because they want the bay
cleaned up so they can have a more abundant supply of
crabs. Watermen make an average
of $50 million dollars a year in dockside value alone,
but if the crab population continues to
plummet, this will not be true any longer.
Watermen are a big part of the economy and the
decreasing crab population. But
without Watermen the Chesapeake Bay and its marine life
would be wasted. I have heard it
said that a Bay without watermen would be diminished, a
place without a part of its soul.
http://www.chesapeakebay.net/blue_crab.htm
http://www.mariner.org/chesapeakebay/waterman/wat008.html
http://www.baygateways.net/watermen.cfm
http://www.virginia.edu/ien/vnrli/docs/briefs/blue%20crab.pdf
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Watermen
Blue is Beautiful
Rappahannock H.S.-Settle
4/16/2008
In this area the blue crab is located at the mouth
of the Chesapeake Bay to tidal fresh POV:
areas. The water temperature in which they live has to
remain at a stable warm
temperature. If the water is to cold the crabs will seek
deeper water and bury themselves
and if the water is to hot their lives may be in danger
because of low oxygen levels.
The blue crab is a scavenger, which means that it
eats dead “stuff”. They tend to feed
on mollusks such as oysters, shrimp, clams, and mussels.
Usually the adult crabs prey on
these organisms as their main food source, they also
feed on dead organisms. Crabs will
even feed on other blue crabs for food. Young crabs, or
juvenile crabs, as people say, will
feed on small fish and dead organisms, but as their
maturity progresses their prey tends to
get larger. They can serve as consumers or as types of
prey of plankton as their life cycle
pans out.
The eggs hatch into the first larval stage called
the zoea. Four or five weeks after
floating in the ocean, the crab develop into its second
stage. The second stage of a crab is
the megalopa. In this stage the crab is still to small
too swim in the ocean. The third stage
is the juvenile crabs. This crab can walk and swim in
the ocean. In about 12 to 18 months
crabs reach maturity. When female crabs become mature,
it is time for them to mate to
create the next generation of blue crabs. After mating,
females migrate to the mouth of
the Bay. All crabs go into semi-hibernation during the
winter, November to January. When
the waters warm in spring, they crawl out and continue
eating and molting.
The easiest way to catch a crab is the dip net.
With a long handled net you can wade
into acove or shoreline on foot or on a boat. When you
see a crab just dip and net it. Put
your catch in a cooler or basket. You can catch a crab
with bait tied to the end of line
baited with chicken necks or raw fish heads to catch the
crabs. You can also use the small
stick, which is 8-12 inches long. In the bay there are
122 million blue crabs in the bay.
There has been a dramatic decrease in Bay-wide with
harvesting.
Crabs can get a disease from a blood parasite. The
parasites consume oxygen from the
crabs blood and tissues and make the crab to become weak
and eventually die. Parasite
grows rapidly over 3 to 6 weeks. Blood changes to a
milky white color and lases clothing.
The parasites are found in the ocean-side bays of the
Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware.
The disease is most prevalent in warm, relatively
shallow, high salinity waters.
http://www.bluecrab.info/lifecycle.html
http://www.chesapeakebay.net/crabs.aspx?menuitem=14700
http://www.vims.edu/adv/ed/crab/cycle.
http://www.essortment.com/all/catchcrab_rlbm.htm
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Rappahannock H.S.-Settle
4/16/2008
Extending through six states and D.C. (Virginia,
Maryland, New York, West Virginia, POV:
Pennsylvania, and Delaware), the Chesapeake Bay is the
largest estuary in the United
States. The bay’s watershed (an area of land that
drains into a particular body of water)
covers over 64,000 sq. miles and has over 100,000
tributaries (rivers and streams whose
waters end up flowing into the bay). With 14:1 the bay
has the largest land to water ratio
than any other coastal body of water in the entire
world. The salinity of the bay increase
gradually as you move north to south because half of the
water that forms the bay is
drained into the bay through its many tributaries,
making it fresh water, and the other half
is salt water from the Atlantic Ocean. Needless to say
it’s important to our communities
and environment to keep the bay in good health.
Unfortunately it is in trouble and we need
to help it.
The biggest problem in the bay is the huge excess
of nutrients, mainly nitrogen and
phosphorus. The pollution comes from runoff from urban
areas, agriculture runoff,
exhausts and other air pollutants, water treatment
plants, smoke stacks, and other human-
related things. When these things enter the water the
pollute it and cause serious problems.
It affects the quality of the water and also causes
“red tides” to occur. Fueled by the
excess nitrogen in the water algae blooms, which are
basically overgrowth of phytoplankton
and cyanobacteria, occur. These algae blooms consume
large amount of oxygen; by doing
so they lower the dissolved oxygen levels so bad that
there is not enough for other
organisms to survive in that area and can cause mass
deaths to occur. This is the cause of
the “Dead Zone” in the bay. These algae blooms also come
with another deadly problem:
pfiesteria piscicida. It’s a microscopic organism
that. If exposed to humans it causes
neuropsychological symptoms, such as headaches, new and
increased forgetfulness, and
skin lesions or burning sensation when their skin comes
in contact with water. In fish that
organism causes sores, ulcers, and respiratory
problems. The clarity of the water has
become very poor, which is also affecting the ecosystem
by not allowing sunlight to reach
the bottom of the bay. Without this sunlight the
underwater plant life dies and the animals
that need them for food and shelter die with it.
If we don’t act now we will not be able to save the
bay. People are reaching out to help
the bay through trying to implement laws and through
participating in activities that help
improve the bay’s health. One of the most important
things that need to be done to
improve the bay is to restore the natural filters, such
as forests, wetlands, underwater
grasses, and oysters, and to protect them and make sure
they are not destroyed again.
These would decrease the amount of nutrients that enter
the bay. We also need to
decrease the amount of fertilizer we use in our lawns,
upgrade sewage treatment plants,
start using nitrogen removal technology in septic
systems, reduce the amount of
agricultural runoff, Install buffer strips along farms,
and get Conservation Reserve
Enhancement Programs in every state to make sure we have
enough natural buffers and to
protect them. Healthy lawns, with little fertilizer or
chemicals, help increase the bay’s
health because the runoff from that lawn won’t have
chemicals to pollute the water. Help
fight for federal funding and help get laws passed that
will improve the health of the bay.
You can plant trees to slow the runoff and get rid of
some of the excess nutrients going
into the bay. Also, by helping conserve the underwater
grasses you can help the bay and
the fish populations that need the plants to survive.
Network! You would be surprised at
how many people have no knowledge of how bad off the bay
is. Spread the word and its
spreads the concern!
The bay has a complex ecosystem and food web. Like
all food webs, if you take more
than 10% of a species out, especially a keystone
species, the whole food web will collapse.
The Atlantic menhaden is one of the five keystone
species in the bay. Over 13% of the
population is pulled out of the bay during fishing
season. The species is having other
problems also. Pfiesteria piscicida is causing ulcers
inside their mouth and respiratory
problems, which has increased their death rates. The
occurrence of algae blooms in the
bay has caused mass deaths; whole schools of Menhaden
have been killed because of this
problem. The species has a low reproductive rate and
this is a problem because they can’t
reproduce enough to overcome all these problems. Humans
have to help save these fish
because if we don’t the whole food web will collapse.
Atlantic Menhaden are very
important! The eat the plankton, which filters the bay
and are the main prey of many
organisms in the bay, including marine mammals, humans,
Striped bass, fish-eating birds,
Mackerels, Bluefish and Weakfish. It will also affect
the economy because more
Menhaden are caught every year than any other fish in
the bay. In 2006, 376 million
pounds of menhaden were caught in Maryland and Virginia
waters valued at approximately
$22.8 million. If we don’t save this fish the whole
food web of the bay will collapse. The
only way to help these fish seems to be to clean the
water and get ride of the algae
blooms, and help increase their reproduction rate.
http://www.chesapeakebay.net/atlanticmenhaden.aspx?menuitem=19375
http://www.chesapeakebay.net/atlanticmenhadenmanagement.aspx?menuitem=15378
http://www.chesapeakebay.net/atlanticmenhadenharvest.aspx?menuitem=14702
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