BALTIMORE - Bay grasses, crabs and rockfish are showing signs of
resilience in the Chesapeake Bay, which continues to suffer from
poor water quality as a growing population stresses it,
according to a report released Thursday. The bay barometer
provides a snapshot of water data from 2011 and 2012. The report
by the Chesapeake Bay Program says grasses are one of the
success stories. Grasses in the large Susquehanna Flats grass
bed near the top of the bay not only survived Tropical Storm Lee
in 2011, but those in the mid-Bay have seen dramatic increases.
However, only 34 percent of the bay met standards for water
oxygen levels, and water clarity was very poor. The Chesapeake
Bay Program is the federal and state partnership that
coordinates restoration efforts. Partners include the federal
Environmental Protection Agency, the six bay watershed states _
Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New
York _ and the District of Columbia. Other bay successes include
the rockfish population. The fish,