![]() ![]() ![]() Photo by Stephen Badger, Maryland Department of Natural Resources. The score for phosphorous pollution improved two points, but other measures of pollution either remained unchanged or worsened by a point.Staff examine a juvenile blue crab as part of the annual winter dredge survey photo taken in 2017. ![]() Though the size of this year’s bay dead zone was smaller than average for the third consecutive year - a “promising trend,” according to the report - it didn’t show much improvement compared to 2020, leaving its score unchanged. The rise of the invasive blue catfish and obstacles to fish passage on rivers feeding the bay have played a part. Though a moratorium was placed on fishing for the species in the 1980s, there has not been a significant rebound. Shad again received the lowest score of the species on the report card, a seven out of 100. But the numbers of juvenile striped bass were far below average this year in Maryland, tempering optimism for the species. Rockfish, also known as striped bass, saw a two-point improvement on this year’s report card thanks to lower fishing quotas. “On the positive side of this, this low number has spurred action by the bay jurisdictions and NOAA to start a comprehensive stock assessment of the population that will hopefully inform our scientists and our managers moving forward and allow us to manage the species in a way that brings it back to its former numbers,” said Chris Moore, the bay foundation’s senior regional ecosystem scientist. Still, the crab population has not declined to a point that would trigger immediate action from fishery managers, who base their assessments on the number of adult female crabs. ![]()
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