Fish, Streams, and Water Quality
Fish, Streams, and Water Quality
Enhanced Understanding of Factors Affecting Stream Condition Can Improve Restoration Outcomes
The Chesapeake Bay watershed supports important recreational and commercial fisheries, but many are declining due to poor water quality, loss of quality habitat and increased invasive species. The USGS science activities are improving the understanding of how restoration and conservation efforts, along with land-use and climate change, are affecting conditions for fish, wildlife, and people.
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Brook Trout
Land and climate changes are expected to adversely affect aquatic ecosystems and conditions for brook trout and other freshwater species.
USGS results used to help develop climate indicators
The USGS stream-water-temperature trends in the Chesapeake Bay region are used for the National Climate Change indicator report released by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) entitled Climate Change Indicators in the United States, 2016.
West Coast Fish Pathogen Now Found in the East
Research by the USGS identified a fish pathogen similar to one previously found in the United States only in Pacific salmonids -- salmon and trout species -- in the eastern United States and in a non-salmon species.
USGS Fish Health Scientist Shares Thoughts on Chesapeake Restoration
USGS fish biologist describes what the Chesapeake Bay means to her.
Chesapeake Bay Water-Quality Loads and Trends
Access the most recent data gathered from the Chesapeake Bay Nontidal Monitoring Network, learn about the techniques used to collect this data, and read about the history of the Chesapeake Bay Nontidal Monitoring Program. Nontidal Network (NTN) data refers to data from the 123 monitoring stations where nutrients and sediment are collected monthly and during storms. River Input Monitoring (RIM)...
USGS Enhances Statistical Techniques to Assess Water-Quality Trends
The USGS has completed more enhancements to our innovative technique to assess water-quality trends. The WRTDS (Weighted Regressions on Time Discharge and Season) method was first published in 2010 as an exploratory data analysis technique for understanding trends in surface water. Subsequently, we published the EGRET (Exploration and Graphics for RivEr Trends) software which implements the WRTDS...
Excess manure and fertilizer are worsening water-quality conditions on Eastern Shore of Chesapeake
Excess fertilizer and manure applied to the Chesapeake Bay’s Eastern Shore are causing poor water-quality in streams that flow into the Bay, according to a new publication by the U.S. Geological Survey.
Stream temperature rising throughout the Chesapeake Bay region
U.S. Geological Survey research, published in the journal Climatic Change
Sources, Fate, and Transport of Nitrogen and Phosphorus in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed—Interpretations and Applications of Spatially Referenced Regression on Watershed Attributes (SPARROW) Nutrient Model Results
As the largest and most productive estuary in North America, Chesapeake Bay is a vital ecological and economic resource. The bay and its tributaries have been degraded in recent decades, however, by excessive inputs of nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) and sediment from contributing watersheds. In 2000, the bay was listed as “impaired” under the Clean Water Act, and in 2010, a Total Maximum...
USGS Results on Phosphorus Trends
USGS results on phosphorus trends reveal little progress over the past decade. USGS results show phosphorus trends over the past decade do not show improving conditions at a majority of the sites. Water-quality managers call for more actions to increase progress.
USGS Expands Studies of Brook Trout
The USGS has established an experimental stream lab in the Leetown Science Center.
USGS leads STAC report on Land Management Effects on Water-Quality Status and Trends
The Chesapeake Bay is a degraded eutrophic ecosystem with periodic hypoxia and anoxia, algal blooms, diminished submerged aquatic vegetation, and depleted stocks of finfish, crabs, and oysters (Kemp et al. 2005). Since 1983, the seven jurisdictions within the Chesapeake Bay watershed (Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia) have worked...