Chesapeake Bay is the cradle of life for a huge portion of the striped bass population that spends the spring, summer and fall feeding in the waters off the coast of New Jersey, New York and New England. Sadly, it’s also beseiged by pollution from factory farms – producing chickens and pigs for human consumption – that could very likely be harming striped bass health and spawning success. Did you know that Delaware has 19 factory-farmed broiler chickens for every human resident of the state? That’s a lot of chicken poop – and guess where it ends up.
There is reason for hope, though, that Chesapeake Bay turned the corner in 2011 and its water quality will improve over time. A recent study showed that the “dead zones” that plague the bay have been shrinking in recent years. Also, in December, 2010, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency introduced stronger new pollution caps, and in November 2011, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission agreed to reduce the harvest of menhaden – a filter-feeding fish that is important for maintaining water quality.
You can read more about Chesapeake Bay in this National Geographic guest post by Dan Klotz, Did the Chesapeake Bay Turn the Corner in 2011?
