Environmental groups hailed President Biden’s proposal to fully fund the Chesapeake Bay Program, saying that if the fiscal 2022 budget is approved it would help meet clean-up goals by a deadline now only four years away.
Chesapeake Bay blue crab survey shows mixed results
From Staff Reports
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The annual survey of blue crabs in the Chesapeake Bay showed a mixed bag, with the population of mature female crabs up while juvenile crab numbers declined to the lowest level since the survey began in 1990.
The Maryland Department of Natural Resources announced the results of the 2021 Blue Crab Winter Dredge Survey, a cooperative effort with the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, which annually estimates the number of blue crabs in the Chesapeake Bay.
The survey results showed that the number of spawning age mature female crabs increased from 141 million in 2020 to 158 million in 2021. This year’s survey estimate is above the long-term average of 126 million spawning age female crabs, DNR said in a release.
Erie Times-News
Editor s note: Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf and other mid-Atlantic governors and leaders recently submitted this letter to Congress seeking funding for Chesapeake Bay restoration.
We write today to request your support for a bold plan to stimulate state and local economies in the Mid-Atlantic region and restore America’s largest estuary the Chesapeake Bay. Our proposal is the Billion for the Bay Initiative: a significant and much needed infusion of new funds that will jumpstart the final phase of Bay restoration and put people to work building clean water infrastructure, including green infrastructure that will reduce stormwater and agricultural water pollution, the restoration of natural landscapes, and helping us adapt to the impacts of climate change.