Dec 3, 2007 5:26 pm US/Eastern
Environmental Group: Bay's Health Getting Worse
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (WJZ) ―
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The Chesapeake Bay's health is going from bad to worse. That's according to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation that gives bay health a D grade for the ninth consecutive year Monday.
The Chesapeake Bay's health is going from bad to worse. That's according to an environmental group that gives bay health a D grade for the ninth consecutive year Monday.
Alex DeMetrick reports just because the Chesapeake Bay is beautiful does not mean it's healthy.
"The state of the bay is worse this year than last. We saw no improvement in any of the 13 health indicators and three of them declined," said Will Baker, Chesapeake Bay Foundation.
In the Chesapeake Bay Foundation's annual report card on the bay health, the grade averages out to a grade of "D." The lowest scores remain in three key areas.
"That was phosphorus, crabs and water clarity. So those are what drove the score down," said Beth McGee, CBF scientist.
This year's report found a decline in Maryland's biggest fishery.
It's believed this year's crab harvests will be the lowest since the 1940s.
Underwater vegetation critical to the crabs' survival continues to decline because of poor water quality.
Nitrogen and phosphorous from sewage spills, fertilizer and air pollution feed the massive blooms that choke off light and oxygen. They create dead zones in the bay and this year that pollution is worse than last year.
Under an agreement by Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania, that pollution should have been reduced by 60 million pounds by now. It's been cut by less than 20.
"I think the worse thing we could do would be to set aside science and move in a different direction to try to save the bay. We've got to stick with the science and that says work on sewage, work on agriculture runoff, work on urban and suburban, work on air. That is our four point plan," said Baker.
Later this week in Annapolis, the governors of Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania will meet to discuss what's being done to try and reverse the bay's decline.
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