MARYLAND – The dead zone in the Bay is the seventh smallest they’ve seen in the past 35 years.
The dead zone is an area of the bay where plant and animal life can’t survive because there’s little to no oxygen. The dead zone gets larger when there’s an increase in pollution causing algae to grow out of control. Hurricane Isaias helped stir up the water in the Bay in August helping to reduce the dead zone which in turn can have a positive impact on the economy.
“It’s an economic driver, our fisheries are so strong, our blue crabs, our oysters. So if we have a really large dead zone that really impacts all of those economic values the environmental benefits we get from recreation,” says Rachel Felver with the Chesapeake Bay Program.
Felver says the Maryland Department of Natural Resources puts out a forecast every June for what the dead zone may look like in the summer. They also conduct monitoring cruises to collect water samples starting in April or May and go through September or October.
The Chesapeake Bay Program ought to get together with The Chesapeake Bay Foundation and the EPA and actually solve the problem. None of them are rookies, or fledgling groups, and they all have degrees piled upon degrees with studies upon studies having been conducted, and they claim they know what the solutions are. Yet here we are how many years into these studies and grants upon grants for more research, and the best they can send us is Jay C. Ford who decides its more important to stick our community with the cancel culture. Every chance I get I am going to poke that clown with a cattle prod. It’s people like him that are supposed to be doing something, but aren’t, that cause the continuation of this problem.
I am quite tired of the entire total load of crapola they all send us all the time. They have found a very comfortable way of life as part of the swamp where they all make too fine of a living for accomplishing very little. Too many of them ask us for money, tell us what to do, and try to cancel us out, and accomplish nothing along the way. They realize, once they become part of the organization, that if they find a solution, they may no longer have a job. So their job becomes a quest, a dream of a nirvana like place where unlimited funds are needed to be asked for, and they build $3 million buildings in environmentally sensitive areas where the rest of us couldn’t get a permit to launch a freaking canoe due to the environmental sensitivity, while they hob nob with Ralph Northam and Elaine Luria and smile and lie to us that they are accomplishing something. Only to go on and adjourn the meeting and take more studies and repeat the cycle, and of course ask for more money. Hogwash. Carpetbaggers all.
I forgot to say, do yourself a favor. Head for the beach, or get in your boat and head to that beach. Of course take your family and friends. Tie an empty Food Lion bag to your belt. As you walk just pick up some trash that has washed up. It’s clean. The water has cleaned it. In your 1 hour walk you’ll accomplish more for The Eastern Shore than Jay C. Ford will in his entire “career”. Yup. I have a very negative place in my heart for that guy. You don’t have to make a donation while you do it either.
Does anybody remember the zebra mussels or oysters they were going to start introducing to help clean the water? If you went by one of the places they had been installed, they were filtering so much water you could see the ripples on top of the water when it was calm. Guess they decided against that idea, it would have put them all out of a job. I will also continue to prod Jay Ford any chance that comes my way.
Well yeah I recall the zebra mussel. Thankfully it’s a fresh water species. It’s non native and quite invasive. They remain a serious problem in the Great Lakes, and I think first showed up in the early 80’s. They clog intakes and drains and force native species out. I never knew any group ever thought they could be of any help here knowing how destructive they are to The Great Lakes. They’d love to figure out how to get rid of them up there. It wouldn’t surprise me if Jay C. Ford tried to reintroduce them around here in our creeks. (smirk) Oh yeah, and it’s too bad we’ve cancelled so many Halloween parades. We could all dress up like Jay C. Ford.
The zebra mussel poses a multi-billion dollar threat to the Lake George region.
Outdoor recreation, tourism, property values and the municipal water supply are threatened.
Zebra mussels can foul boats and boat engines, foul beaches with washed-up remains, clog water intake pipes, alter water quality and affect the overall lake ecosystem.
Adult zebra mussels can be transported by attaching to boat hulls, engines and anchors.
Zebra Mussel larvae can be carried in the water of engine cooling systems, bilges, live wells and bait buckets.