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
Assessing stream health and fish habitat in streams of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed
Streams and rivers provide habitat for a diverse array of aquatic and semi-aquatic species. However, human alteration to landscapes and riverscapes has affected this habitat resulting in its degradation and thus loss of habitat and associated sensitive aquatic species. While this relationship has been known for many years, only recently has the availability of data and analytical capabilities...
The Effects of Florence and High River Flow During Summer 2018 on the Chesapeake Bay
Prepared by the U.S. Geological Survey and Chesapeake Bay Program, Updated September 17, 2018.
USGS and Partner Efforts to Monitor High River Flow During Summer, 2018 and Potential Effects of Hurricane Florence on the Chesapeake Bay Watershed
Prepared by Scott Phillips and Peter Tango, USGS and Chesapeake Scientific, Technical Analysis, and Reporting (STAR) team, September 12, 2018
Record Amounts of Rainwater Flow off the Land into Chesapeake Bay
As the Mid-Atlantic states' super-soaker summer draws to a close, record amounts of rainwater have flowed off the land and into Chesapeake Bay, with potential consequences for the nation's largest estuary. USGS measurements show freshwater flows into the bay in August 2018 were the highest ever recorded for that month by a wide margin. River flows into the bay have been unusually high since May.
USGS Chesapeake Bay Topic Leaders
USGS Chesapeake Bay studies are carried out by integrated teams of scientists located across the watershed. The leaders of these teams are listed below. Click on a scientist's name to be taken to their staff profile.
Videos Highlighting USGS Chesapeake Bay Activities
A list of Chesapeake Bay Program videos highlighting USGS Chesapeake Bay Activities.
The Potential Effects of Unconventional Oil and Gas Development on Eastern Brook Trout
Issue The Upper Susquehanna River watershed (PA) has experienced a rapid increase in unconventional oil and gas (UOG) development since it is part of the Marcellus shale formation. It is also part of the headwaters of the Chesapeake Bay, which is the focus of considerable conservation and restoration activities by federal and state agencies under the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement. Brook trout...
The Role of Storms on Bank Erosion Rates and Sediment Transport in Urban Areas
Sediment is a major pollutant degrading aquatic ecosystems in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. The USGS is conducting studies to determine the relative importance of streambank erosion to other sediment sources, such as upland erosion, in both agricultural and urban areas. The information is necessary so resource managers can focus on the types, and locations, of practices that will be most effective...
Conowingo Dam Above 90 Percent Capacity For Sediment Storage
The Conowingo Dam on the Susquehanna River is at about 92 percent capacity for sediment storage according to new U.S. Geological Survey research.
Chesapeake Bay ‘dead zone’ to vary from average to slightly smaller
Hypoxic zone size affected by low river flow and nutrient loading Scientists expect that this year’s mid-summer Chesapeake Bay hypoxic low-oxygen zone or “dead zone” – an area of low to no oxygen that can kill fish and aquatic life – will be approximately 1.58 cubic miles, about the volume of 2.3 million Olympic-size swimming pools. This is close to the long-term average as measured since 1950.
USGS contributes Toward Assessment of Bay's Health and Restoration
The federal agencies leading the watershed-wide effort to restore the Chesapeake Bay have released a progress report highlighting work completed in the 2015 fiscal year.
Streamflow in the Watershed and Entering the Chesapeake Bay
The health of the Chesapeake Bay, and streams in the watershed, are affected by changes in surface-water flows. Runoff from storms carries pollutants, such as nutrients, sediments, and toxic contaminants, into streams throughout the 64,000 square-mile watershed, which drain to the Bay. The changes of stream flow, and associated pollutant loads, influence habitat conditions for fisheries and safe...