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.
Filter Total Items: 161
A Science-Based Approach for Targeting Resources to Achieve Multiple Chesapeake Outcomes
Issue: The Chesapeake Bay Program (CBP) needs to accelerate progress on multiple outcomes to meet deadlines in the Chesapeake Watershed Agreement. The CBP partnership spends about $1.2B annually on activities toward achieving the Watershed Agreement, with a focus on water-quality improvement. Recent funding increases, including the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, provide additional opportunities to...
Study of stream fishes provides new framework to monitor climate change in the Chesapeake Bay headwaters
Issue: The Chesapeake Bay Program (CBP) have identified four goals for actions toward change climate: • address the threats of climate change in all aspects of the partnership’s work; • prioritize communities, working lands, and most vulnerable habitats; • apply the best scientific, modeling, monitoring and planning capabilities; and • connect restoration outcomes with emerging opportunities. A...
USGS Part of New Federal Effort to Address Climate Change in the Chesapeake Watershed
Issue: The federal government will work together to implement the Chesapeake Executive Council Directive No. 21-1 Collective Action for Climate Change, recognizing that urgent attention is needed to confront the challenges that a changing climate poses to the Chesapeake Bay region. The Directive emphasizes the importance of the “…resiliency of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, including its living...
Invasive Blue Catfish Science to Support Conservation and Fisheries Management
Dietary analyses, health, and reproduction of blue catfish in tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay inform ecosystem impacts and mitigation strategies for this aquatic nuisance species.
USGS Chesapeake Publication Receives National Award for Superior Communication Product
The Award USGS received a 2022 Blue Pencil & Gold Screen Award, in the category of Technical/Statistical Reports, from the National Association of Government Communications (NAGC) for the U.S. Geological Survey Circular titled Nitrogen in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed—A Century of Change, 1950–2050. Each year the NAGC recognizes products that provide excellence in government communications and the...
Unique 20-year study assesses ecosystem response to different types of stormwater management
Issue: Managing stormwater runoff in developing areas
Assessing the habitat conditions to support freshwater fisheries in the Chesapeake Watershed
Issue: The Chesapeake Bay Program partners are striving to improve habitat conditions for recreational fisheries and other native fishes in the Bay and its watershed. While national fish habitat assessments have been conducted, resource managers need more local information to focus restoration and protection efforts in Chesapeake Bay watershed. Conducting the fish-habitat assessments are...
Tracking Status and Trends in Seven Key Indicators of River and Stream Condition in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed
Identifying and tracking the status of, and trends in, stream health within the Chesapeake Bay watershed is essential to understanding the past, present, and future trajectory of the watershed’s resources and ecological condition. A team of USGS scientists is meeting this need with an initiative to track the status of, and trends in, key indicators of the health of non-tidal freshwater streams...
Greatest Opportunities for Future Nitrogen Reductions to the Chesapeake Bay Watershed are in Developed and Agricultural Areas
Issue: As human population has increased, land-use changes have led to increases in nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) and sediment into the Bay. The excess nutrients cause algal blooms which contribute to water-quality impairments such as low oxygen or hypoxia (dead zones), and poor water clarity in the Chesapeake Bay. Management efforts to improve water quality focus on dissolved oxygen needed...
The statistical power to detect regional temporal trends in riverine contaminants in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed
Issue: Chemical contamination of riverine ecosystems is a global concern, with potentially negative effects for human and ecological health. Land management activities (e.g., Best Management Practices; BMPs) are an important tool that can be used to reduce point and non-point sources of pollution. The Chesapeake Bay Program (CBP) has goals for (1) reducing toxic contaminants and (2) reducing...
Time marches on, but do factors driving instream habitat and biology remain consistent?
Issue: Stream ecosystems are affected by a complex set of interacting terrestrial and aquatic stressors. With many streams experiencing degraded conditions that often correspond with increased anthropogenic activities, an important outcome of the Chesapeake Bay Program is to improve stream health. The USGS is conducting research to better understand the complex factors affecting stream health...
Summarizing Scientific Findings for Common Stakeholder Questions to Inform Nutrient and Sediment Management Activities in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed
Issue: The Chesapeake Bay Program (CBP) partnership is striving to improve water-quality conditions in the Bay by using a variety of management strategies to reduce nutrient and sediment loads. The partnership uses monitoring results and modeling tools to implement management strategies, relying on the scientific community to synthesize existing information and direct new research to address...