Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Chesapeake Bay Fisheries: An Overview, Herbert M. Austin

VIMS Books and Book Chapters

The value of the marine resources of the Chesapeake Bay is second only to its value as a transportation corridor. The oyster, blue crab and striped bass or rock fish, along with the sailboat, epitomize our vision of the Bay. Nowhere else do such important renewable natural resources co-exist so closely to man's residential and industrial activities.

Over time, all natural resource distribution and abundance fluctuates in response to a normally fluctuating environment. Man's harvest adds an additional pressure, and in some cases recruitment levels cannot keep pace with consumer demand. In the Bay, pollutants, both intentional point source discharge, …

A Socio-Economic Overview Of The Chesapeake Bay Fisheries, James E. Kirkley

VIMS Books and Book Chapters

The marine resources of the Chesapeake Bay are believed to provide substantial benefit to residents of the State of Maryland and Virginia. However, the possibility of overfishing and degradation of the marine environment seriously jeopardizes the possible benefit . In thsi section, a brief overview of the economic importance and characteristics of the Chesapeake Bay marine resources is presented. The potential for economic lossee are discussed relative to observed economic values.

Submerged And Emergent Aquatic Vegetation Of The Chesapeake Bay, Carl Hershner, Richard L. Wetzel

VIMS Books and Book Chapters

Chesapeake Bay supports a diverse assemblage of submerged and emergent aquatic vegetation. The distribution of species of each kind of vegetation is governed largely by salinity. The functions of both submerged and emergent vegetation in the Bay ecosystem includes contributing to total net primary production, service a habitat and performance in both water quality and sedimentation processes. Research on submerged aquatic vegetation is focused on its role in the estuarine system and determinants of its distribution and abundance. Research on emergent vegetation still concerns basic questions of structure and function, but has also branched into methodologies for utilization by man …

Contaminant Effects On Chesapeake Bay Finfishes, Ronald J. Klauda, Michael E. Bender

VIMS Books and Book Chapters

Habitat deterioration is consistent with perceived population declines for several resident and anadromous finfish species in Chesapeake Bay that are subjected to different levels of fishing pressure (e.g., striped bass versus blueback herring). Diminution of habitat quality has natural and anthropogenic roots that are difficult to separate. Recent contaminant effects studies focused on Chesapeake Bay fishes can be grouped as follows: (a) mathematical and statistical modeling studies aimed at elucidating contaminant and stock trend relationships using extant data and theoretical insights, (b) biological and chemical field surveys in selected areas to demonstrate spatio-temporal associations between levels of toxic organic and …

Contaminants In Chesapeake Bay: The Regional Perspective, George R. Helz, Robert J. Huggett

VIMS Books and Book Chapters

Industrial and municipal point sources of contaminants are scattered along the shores of Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries, but reach especially high density at Norfolk, Va., and Baltimore, Md. Sedimentation and various chemical processes in many cases conspire to restrict the water-borne transport of contaminant away from point source . Kepone, residual chlorine, volatile halogenated hydrocarbons, and anthropogenic trace metals are well-studied example of point-source contaminants. For the most part, their concentration in water and sediment drop to nearly immeasurable values within a distance of a few kilometers, or sometimes a few tens of kilometers, from their source .

On …

Effects Of Contaminants On Estuarine Zooplankton, Brian P. Bradley, Morrris H. Roberts Jr.

VIMS Books and Book Chapters

The objectives of the chapter are (1) to evaluate laboratory studies concerning effects of heavy metals, pesticides and oxidants on copepods, mysids, bivalve and decapod larvae (2) access field studies (mainly with copepods) on these and other contaminants which when coupled with laboratory data provide information on known and potential hazards of contaminants to zooplankton and (3) briefly review some bioassay methods used in these studies.

Mercury is the most toxic heavy metal by weight, followed by copper, silver and cadmium. Pesticides have been tested much less extensively than heavy metals. In general, bivalve larvae seem less sensitive than the …

Mollusk Culture For The Chesapeake Bay, Michael Castagna

VIMS Books and Book Chapters

The water quality of the Chesapeake Bay has suffered a decline over the last 5 decades due to anthropomorphic activities. Insidious additions of industrial and farm pollutant to the Bay have created a situation where in many areas there are periodic sub lethal levels of chemicals. Although the juveniles and adults seem to survive these levels, they are obviously interfering with some early life stage of the living organisms that make up the bay fauna. Species whose early life history takes place out of the Bay (i.e. Cal!inectes sapidus) are less affected by this problem than those species whose eggs, …