The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (which happens to be located right around the corner from my apartment) has released a new report on the state of the Chesapeake Blue Crab. Sadly, the report shows that the crab population in the bay is still below the species’ long-term average, and has fallen since the 06-07 census.

Last year, the population was tallied at 143 million. This year, NOAA’s Fisheries Steering Committee only counted 120 million crabs. The scary part? Even last year’s numbers fell short of the interim target population of 200 million spawning crabs, meaning that conservationists will have a lot of work to do to to try and reach that number in the following years.

Read the report here: http://noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2008/20080728_bluecrab.html

I don’t know how many of you were Misty of Chincoteague fans growing up, but personally, I idolized Marguerite Henry and the characters she wrote about, and wanted my own Chincoteague pony when I grew up.

So I felt pretty much overwhelmed by nostalgia when I saw this story on Delmarva Now today. Apparently, Misty had grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, the last of whom is named Nightmist and still lives on the Beebe ranch where Misty grew up. Tomorrow, the ranch is celebrating Nightmist’s birthday during Pony Penning week, with food, cake and signings by authors of Chincoteague-related books. David Ladd, who starred in the Misty movie, will also be making an appearance.

I’m seriously tempted to show up myself, purely out of nostalgia.

Full article here: http://delmarvanow.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008807240317

So what have you accomplished this week? I made a new Facebook group and wrote some memos. Meanwhile, the Ocean City Beach Patrol saved innocent beachgoers from a 400-pound fish carcass. Yes, you read that right.

Apparently it is beach patrol policy for a team of guards to remove any large object from the water that could cause injury to swimmers if left where it was. Normally this rule is applied to inanimate objects like pilings and boat debris, but in this case, the potential danger came from the carcass of an Atlantic Sunfish, a fish that is rarely sighted on the Maryland coast and that can measure up to 11 feet in length. The beach patrol explained that, while many beach visitors were curious about the sunfish and crowded around to watch its removal, it was important to keep people away from the fish because dead fish can be a source of dangerous bacteria.

The article on MD Coast Dispatch contained some interesting information about how the beach patrol handles various kinds of sea life. It’s definitely worth a read, and it can be found here: http://mdcoastdispatch.com/article.php?cid=30&id=3923

This is a great opportunity to make helping out the local ecosystem a fun part of your OC vacation. From Ocean City Today:

“Residents and visitors are invited to help measure the Atlantic bottlenose dolphin population by counting them as they appear along the 26-mile shoreline during a three-hour period. The local event will coincide with a similar event in Delaware. Beach count locations in Ocean City will be at 20th, 40th, 65th, 80th, 100th and 120th streets. To participate in the count, volunteers should show up before 9 a.m. at the count headquarters on 40th Street or at any other location. Look for people wearing blue aquarium T-shirts. The count will take place from 9 a.m. until noon.”

The purpose of this annual dolphin census is to help the Baltimore Aquarium monitor the local dolphin population for numbers, health and demographics. Over the last couple of years, the aquarium has invited the public to help with the count in order to get the local communities involved and educate people about dolphins and the efforts to protect them.

According to MD Coast Dispatch, Ocean City’s City Council has a few concerns about the plan to develop a wind farm of the Maryland coast. The biggest worry is about the view — tourists come to the shore to see the beautiful ocean, the sunset over the horizon, maybe some dolphins jumping or birds swooping, not a decidedly man-made array of windmills. While Bluewater Wind, the corporation that has partnered with Delmarva Power to develop the wind farm, has stated that the mills will be barely visible from the shore even on a clear day, council members have expressed worries that the sight of the wind mills will detract from the famous Ocean City skyline that has been used in logos, postcards and souvenirs for decades, and disappoint visitors who may not understand what they’re looking at off the coast. Additionally, there are some questions about whether the mills will be safe for birds, which I will address in my next post.

It seems like the council is making a lot of progress on resolving any potential issues with the plan. Watch this space for future updates on the project!

Chesapeake Bay Journal has an interesting article about the ecosystem recovery efforts in Gunston Cove, a small tidal cove off the Potomac that had been suffering from an extreme level of pollution, leading to disastrous algae blooms and killing off a lot of the native species. Scientists studying the area came up with a new theory to explain the difficulty in recovering the cove’s flora — that an area can reach a “threshold” of environmental degradation past which it may be impossible to recover the ecosystem through traditional means. Instead, it may take a very long and complicated process to restore an ecosystem which has passed this threshold.

It’s a fascinating read, both depressing and ultimately hopeful for the Bay and its future. Read it here: http://bayjournal.com/article.cfm?article=3371

Delmarva Now reports that so far this summer, there have been three major “fish kills” in the peninsula’s waterways. This doesn’t necessarily mean that the whole summer will be bad, but it certainly hasn’t been fun for area residents, who have called to report streams and creeks full of dead fish and birds congregating to scavenge the remains.

A fish kill, as I learned in Bio 101 and was reminded by the Delmarva Now article, happens when a the population of fish in a body of water exceeds the amount that can survive on the oxygen provided by algae and other aquatic plants. This is particularly a problem with large populations of small fish, who can quickly fill a body of water past the point of sustainability. The fish are fine during the day, but at night, the algae stop producing oxygen, and all the fish in the body of water are suffocated.

In this case, the small fish population that is thought to have caused the fish kills is menhaden, fish also known as a pogie that is sometimes used as bait. The high populations of young menhaden in Delaware’s waterways could be a bad sign for fish kills for the rest of the summer, especially when combined with the kind of heat waves we’ve been having.

Still, tourists, even those who plan on going swimming or boating in the fresh water, should not have to worry too much about this problem. The local authorities are currently working with the nonprofit Surfrider group to make sure that both residents and locals will be updated on any future fish kills or other health risks.

For the original story by Molly MacMillan, see here: ://delmarvanow.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080625/NEWS01/806250382&referrer=FRONTPAGECAROUSEL

This is super cool –Ocean City Today reports that Worchester County is putting the finishing touches on a methane plant that will be able to transform methane gas from the county’s landfill into energy to power homes. What’s really awesome is that turning methane into energy solves two problems at the same time. Methane, as you probably know, is a serious problem in terms of pollution. The methane given off by landfills contributes to the greenhouse effect and global warming. And, of course, every source of alternative energy that we use helps the environment by reducing the need for oil and the damage done by burning fossil fuels.

When it opens, the plant will put out 1 megawatt of energy, and it is planned to be able to put out 3 megawatts, enough to power almost 1,000 homes. Not bad for stuff that we were just going to throw out anyway.

The full OCT story can be found here: http://oceancitytoday.net/BUSINESS/tabid/55/ctl/Detail/mid/453/xmid/3315/xmfid/7/Default.aspx