RICHMOND, Va. – The state of the Chesapeake Bay gets decent grades on pollution, habitat and fisheries, according to a new report by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF), comparing the condition of the Bay today with the way it was described by the first colonial settlers in the 1600s. The Bay is at 31 percent of what it used to be, says CBF president Will Baker, which is better than the 23 percent grade it got in 1983.
"The report shows that the Bay is getting better, but it also shows that the Bay is still a system dangerously out of balance. We ignore the challenges at our peril: This is a fragile improvement but it's definitely good news and definitely going in the right direction."
Baker says one of the biggest improvements to the Bay's fisheries was in the blue crab population, which more than doubled from 120 million crabs in 2008 to 315 million this year.
"What we're seeing is that science has finally gotten the upper hand. The limits on crabs have been set by science and enforced by government and a 60 percent improvement in just a few years is the result."
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