Ithaca 37
New member
ON THE PATUXENT RIVER, Md. - A crabber slides his workboat through the water of a shallow cove alongside Broomes Island as his temporary crew of two college interns and a state scientist work quickly and quietly under an early June sun. They gently toss overboard mesh bags full of what they hope will be the next generation of Chesapeake Bay grasses...........The project has the potential of seeding an exponentially larger grassbed — if it works. Scientists at the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and Virginia Institute of Marine Science hope the experiment will yield a new, faster way to replenish grassbeds devastated by bay pollution..........
Research for the project began a year ago, but its relevance became more immediate when environmentalists learned that nearly a third of the bay's underwater grasses were killed off by pollution last year. Grassbeds had been at an all-time high, but heavy rains in 2003 pushed more nutrient pollution into the estuary from farm fields and urban areas than the beds could handle.
Pollution from runoff and sewage plants are the most pressing of the bay's ailments. Nitrogen and phosphorus spill into the estuary, fueling algae blooms that suck oxygen from the water and kill marine life as well as bay grasses.
Virginia and Maryland have committed to restoring shorelines and thousands of miles of forest buffers to help stem nutrient runoff. And Maryland lawmakers this year approved a "flush tax" to finance a billion dollars worth of sewage treatment plants aimed at reducing nitrogen pollution.
The vegetation is considered the "barometer of the health of the bay,".............
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040619/ap_on_sc/apn_restoring_bay_grasses_2
Read my signature line and tell me why any hunter or fisherman shouldn't be an environmentalist!
My own opinion is that those of you who constantly complain about environmentalists trying to reduce pollution must be idiots.
Research for the project began a year ago, but its relevance became more immediate when environmentalists learned that nearly a third of the bay's underwater grasses were killed off by pollution last year. Grassbeds had been at an all-time high, but heavy rains in 2003 pushed more nutrient pollution into the estuary from farm fields and urban areas than the beds could handle.
Pollution from runoff and sewage plants are the most pressing of the bay's ailments. Nitrogen and phosphorus spill into the estuary, fueling algae blooms that suck oxygen from the water and kill marine life as well as bay grasses.
Virginia and Maryland have committed to restoring shorelines and thousands of miles of forest buffers to help stem nutrient runoff. And Maryland lawmakers this year approved a "flush tax" to finance a billion dollars worth of sewage treatment plants aimed at reducing nitrogen pollution.
The vegetation is considered the "barometer of the health of the bay,".............
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040619/ap_on_sc/apn_restoring_bay_grasses_2
Read my signature line and tell me why any hunter or fisherman shouldn't be an environmentalist!
My own opinion is that those of you who constantly complain about environmentalists trying to reduce pollution must be idiots.
