Chesapeake Blue Crabs Ravaged By AGW

by William Teach | April 15, 2010 12:03 pm

Or something like that, per the headline: Chesapeake Bay critters suffer from climate change and pollution[1]

The country’s largest estuary faces the loss of its life below the surface. These animals not only make up a significant part of the overall ecosystem, but they also provide for a vital industry in the Chesapeake region.

In May 2009, President Obama declared the Chesapeake Bay a national treasure[2] because of its numerous environmental assets, including the seafood, public lands, military installations, museums, and wildlife. However, the bay is also in the state of natural disaster because of the pollution build-up and loss of marine life that has plagued the bay for years.

The executive order reports that the major pollutants in the bay are the build-up of nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus), sediment and runoff waste coming from energy plants, farms and development projects.

The story goes on to tell us all about the pollution and over-fishing occurring within the Chesapeake Bay, and virtually nothing about how climate change has hurt the life in the Bay. Surely, there must be something else besides the pollution (which I agree needs to be reduced) and the over-fishing to warrant that headline, right?

Havemann remains hopeful of initiatives being made my the local government and the federal government. In particular, the Copenhagen conference could have significant implications for the Chesapeake Bay.

“Copenhagen will affect the bay indirectly if an international renewable energy standard results,” said Havemann. “It would put additional pressure on the Senate to pass something. It would not only stop global warming from harming the bay, but it’ll also reduce the demand for coal plants.”

So, that is pretty much it. A climahysteric headline with no actual substance or backing. Let’s flash forward two short months to today

And now for something completely different[3]: good news about the Chesapeake Bay.

The Chesapeake’s blue crabs, in decline for a decade, are in the middle of an extraordinary comeback, officials in Maryland and Virginia said Wednesday. The estuary’s crab population has more than doubled in two years, they said, reaching its highest level since 1997.

The chief reason, officials said, is a set of limits placed on the crab harvest in 2008. These were aimed at protecting more female crabs, which can produce millions of baby crabs apiece — but not if they’re turned into she-crab soup first.

Ah. So the problem wasn’t climate change idiocy, but, over-fishing (they could still work on the actual real pollution in the Bay. Anyone who knows me or has read my posts knows I am very much in favor of clean land, sea, and air.)