Chesapeake Bay Activities Newsletter July-September 2021
USGS Integrates Findings about Endocrine-Disrupting Compounds in the Chesapeake Watershed
Issue: Studies in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed have documented the exposure of fish to toxic contaminants including endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDCs) - compounds which can alter normal hormonal function in organisms. Given the importance of fisheries to the economic and environmental health of the Watershed, observed endocrine disruption and fish kills in the Watershed have raised public and management concerns. The Chesapeake Bay Program recognized concerns over potential toxic exposures and effects, and developed a goal for the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement: Ensure that the Bay and its rivers are free of effects of toxic contaminants on living resources and human health.
USGS Conducts Assessment to Inform Black Duck Habitat Decisions
Issue: The Chesapeake Bay is along the Atlantic Flyway and has over 1 million migratory birds winter each year. Black ducks are one of 30 species that depends on habitats along Chesapeake Bay for their annual migration. Managing the black duck population at time when land use and sea-level rise pose a recognized peril to this species and their habitats require a strategic approach.
The Chesapeake Bay Program recognized Black Duck could be used as an indicator species for migratory watershed included this outcome in the Chesapeake Watershed Agreement “By 2025, restore, enhance, and preserve wetland habitats that support a wintering population of 100,000 black ducks, a species representative of the health of tidal marshes across the watershed.”
Updated 2020 Nutrient and Suspended-Sediment Trends for the Nine Major Rivers Entering the Chesapeake Bay
Issue: The amount of nutrients and suspended sediment entering the Chesapeake Bay affect water-quality conditions in tidal waters. Excess nutrients contribute to algal blooms that lower the oxygen levels in tidal waters that are important for fish and shellfish. The algal blooms, along with suspended sediment, also decrease visibility in shallow waters for submerged aquatic grasses. The grasses are important because they put oxygen into tidal waters, provide habitat for fish and crabs, and food for waterfowl.
USGS Updates Chesapeake Science Strategy
U.S. Geological Survey landscape science strategy 2020–2030
Across our Nation, multiple Federal, State, Tribal, and local governments are working with stakeholders and landowners to restore, conserve, and manage lands and resources to benefit fish, wildlife, and people. One of the largest Federal efforts is led by the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI), with multiple DOI agencies working to conserve and manage public lands, resources, and cultural herit
USGS Responding to High Water Caused By Ida Across Multiple States
To learn more about USGS’s role in providing science to decision-makers before, during and after Hurricane Ida, visit www.usgs.gov/ida.
For information on what the Department of Homeland Security and FEMA are doing, visit: https://www.fema.gov/hurricane-ida.
For more on what the U.S. Government is Doing, visit: https://www.usa.gov/hurricane-ida or https://gobierno.usa.gov/huracan-ida for Spanish.
Perfluoroalkyl substances in plasma of smallmouth bass from the Chesapeake Bay Watershed
Smallmouth bass Micropterus dolomieu is an economically important sportfish and within the Chesapeake Bay watershed has experienced a high prevalence of external lesions, infectious disease, mortality events, reproductive endocrine disruption and population declines. To date, no clear or consistent associations with contaminants measured in fish tissue or surface water have been found. Therefore,