Study Area Of East Harbor

The author of American Catch, Paul Greenberg starts us on a journey through america's seafood industry from the early days of abundant seafood to the present condition of our fisheries. America has about 94,000 miles of coast and about 3.5 million miles of rivers, but about 91 percent of our seafood is imported. Here in America 39 percent of citizens call themselves coastal folk, but Greenberg argues we have lost touch with the complex ecosystems of the nation’s shorelines. Estuaries and salt marshes are strange crossroads where salt and freshwater currents meet to be home for oysters, shrimp, and crab. They are also home of dozens of varieties of fish. Greenberg complains about our nation’s destructive relationship with its own shoreline and tells Americans they must desire to “build a bridge back from the plate back to the estuary. This requires us to not just to eat local seafood. It requires the establishment of a working relationship with salt marshes, oyster beds, the natural flow of water from river to sea, and the integrity of the ocean floor.”.

When work began to improve the Chesapeake Bay they needed to find the culprits of the bad water quality then get rid of them.

Iconic Cape Cod Massachusetts is named after the Atlantic Cod. For centuries, this fish has provided food and trade for New Englanders. In this time, there have been several instances of overfishing by humans from the aboriginal era to colonial times but none so drastic as the present conditions of cod fisheries (Jackson, Kirby, Berger, and Bjorndal, 2001). Overfishing is a human induced occurrence where humans are fishing more than a body of water can sustain. In other words, humans are catching more adult fish preventing the existing population from growing to replenish the fish that were caught (Overfishing: A Global Disaster, n.d.). Worldwide, over 80% of the fish stocks are “fully- to over-exploited, depleted, or in a state of collapse” (Overfishing: A Global Disaster, n.d.). The results of this careless behavior has reduced the biodiversity in the Gulf of Maine and landed the Atlantic Cod on the endangered species list as being “vulnerable” (Cod, n.d.). In the neighboring region of Newfoundland, Canada, communities are already feeling the effects of overfishing. In 1992, at the beginning of the fishing season in the Grand Bank region, there were suddenly no more cod. The local economies collapsed and to this day, the region has not quite recovered (Brennan and Withgott, 2005).

The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States. About half of the Bay’s water volume comes from salt water from the Atlantic Ocean. The other half drains into the Bay from its enormous 64,000-square-mile watershed. Estuaries are among the most productive environments on earth, creating more organic matter each year than similarly-sized forests and agricultural areas. Estuaries also provide diverse habitats for wildlife and aquatic life, protect our communities against flooding, reduce pollution of waterways, and support local economies through commercial and recreational activities. Thousands of species

An estuary system is “the resulting collisions of sweet and salt-fresh river water flowing seaward and ocean water inland.” It is an aquatic system where salt and freshwater are constantly mixing. An estuary system is one of most active systems of the planet; it is a hybrid system that contains the best and worst qualities of the ocean, river, and lake systems it conglomerates. Estuaries are unique in nature because of their ability to be the most productive ecosystem on the entire planet; humans have attempted and failed to reach the productivity that estuaries naturally grant. There productivity lies it the constant change that occurs from the conflicting flows of fresh and ocean water. Ocean and freshwater are measured largely based on salinity, or the level of parts of salt per thousand. Ocean water usually

On June 19th, my classmates and I had field trip for Oceanography Lab (OCN 101) class with Professor Ocean Matt Horrigan. We went to Corte Madera Salt Marsh, which is located 12 miles North of San Francisco, to examine how rising and falling of tide effect on

The food chain of the Chesapeake Bay is very simple. It has fish, big fish depend on small fish. The small fish feed off of oysters or sometimes zooplankton. Oysters then feed off of many small zooplankton. Once, it gets down to what the zooplankton feed off of it is mostly algae or grass. Now, since there is a major decrease in the algae population, this

This article presents the impact of low oxygen waters on Chesapeake Bay Zoo-plankton. Anoxia (oxygen deficiency) reduces the cope-pod abundances in Chesapeake's bottom waters, and disrupts the cope-pods inhabits towards the bottom and their migration to the surface. Also, cope-pods will have limited survival ability in low oxygen conditions in bottom waters. Results show the number of cope-pods surviving for 24 hours were significantly lower in water containing smaller milligrams of oxygen liter. Some will have a greater chance of survival because of their low metabolism that requires smaller oxygen. Low oxygen reduces the filtration rate of zoo-plankton and the filtration rate of the fresh water. Decreased filtration reduces metabolic rate in low-oxygen conditions, generally occur in the mesohaline part in summer. Low oxygen-levels may cut phyto-plankton and Cope pod's production. Lower oxygen concentration prevents hatching and the growth of eggs, which eggs could survive a few days if temperatures are cold and as the eggs sink to the bottom.

The word Chesapeake, although there is some scholarly dispute, likely means “Great Bay of Shells” or “Great Shellfish Bay” in the language of the Algonquian Native Americans (“Oyster History”). This translation is appropriate and accurate to anyone familiar with the Chesapeake Bay and its rich history of oysters. The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States with over 150 rivers and streams flow into its basin. It measures roughly 200 miles in length, 3.4 to 35 miles in width and stretches across six states. The bay is home to over 2,700 plant and animal species, making it one of the most complex and productive estuary systems in the world (“Facts and Figures”). However, one species

Recently over nine Cape Cod public water suppliers tested for contaminants in groundwater, with a goal to learn more about how septic systems and other groundwater sources are affecting water quality on the Cape. The results of the testing came back that over 75% of the wells and systems tested showed levels of contamination, much of which came from septic systems(FAQs: Emerging contaminants in Cape Cod drinking water 2016). A big issue regarding the contamination of the Cape water is the amount of sand Cape Cod has. Sand is very permeable and allows the water to pass through to quickly before the natural process of full purification can take place, resulting in many different contaminants easily being able to get into the ground and drinking water(Land and People: Finding a Balance Jan 2015). All of the contamination in the groundwater leads to contaminated well water which is how most people living on the Cape get their drinking water. Drinking contaminated water can lead to many different illnesses, infections, and may be linked to diseases like cancer. Poor water quality also has an effect on biodiversity making the amount of biodiversity in different habitats smaller(Quebec Biodiversity Website: Impacts on Biodiversity 2014). With high levels of pollutants, the water quality lessens and the turbidity rate increases making the water less able

Along with this devastation, the New River which is the "most polluted waterway in the nation " (due heavily to its raw sewage content, agricultural drainage water and powerplant effluent ) that flows from Mexico and dead ends (literally) into the Salton Sea.(Salton Sea Authority and the Bureau of Reclamation, 1997) These two factors mentioned above are the main cause for the massive fish die off , bird die off, the speeding up process of eutrophication, five forms of predominant bacteria and contamination from DDT , selenium, Botulism , New Castle disease, as well as alga blooms and horrific odors.

The San Francisco Estuary Partnership has diligently worked with state and federal agencies for over 20 years with goals of enhancing the fitness and health of the estuary. Restoring the loss of wetlands since the Gold Rush is one of the primary goals of the San Francisco Estuary Partnership Projects. There are various projects in play that aid in protecting, restoring, and

New Bedford Harbor, the world’s famous whaling seaport and current number one fishing port in America, continues to be plagued by toxic pollution, which has caused it to become one of the largest EPA Superfund cleanup sites. The harbor, an urban estuary, contains sediment that is highly contaminated by polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). The PCB-containing industrial waste was introduced into the harbor by two manufacturing facilities from the 1940’s to the 1970’s when the EPA banned the production of PCBs. The result was contamination of six miles of the harbor bottom from the Acushnet River into Buzzards Bay; over 100,000 people currently reside within 3 miles of the contaminated area. PCBs do not break down easily in the environment and therefore pose a serious risk to human health and the environment. Thus, in 1982, the harbor was put onto the EPA’s National Priorities

Research by Tuner, Baustian, Swenson, and Spicer (2006) supports that man-made structures help reduce coastal erosion and protect coastal erosion such as waves and currents. Some of these man-made structures that we have reviewed in class are wetlands, barrier islands, breakwaters, groins and jetties. These structures are designed to protect towns and harbors, which lowers the height of storm surges. However, “One of the reasons Hurricane Katrina so devastated New Orleans in August 2005 is because a vast area of the wetlands that once protected the city has been destroyed. In this case, it is lack of sedimentation that is causing the ecological damage”(K. Lerner & B. Lerner, 2009). In 2009, K. Lerner and B. Lerner studied that channelization

From looking at the estuary from this position, the salinity gradient can be seen. Looking at the length of the estuary, it is noted that as the estuary gets deeper, the salinity increases. Fresh water is less dense than salt water, so normally it can be seen in the river water flowing on top of the seawater. Then as the river water flows further into the ocean, deeper salt water mixes with it making the river water saltier. River water that flows into the ocean causes more salty water to enter into estuary causing a net inflowing current. In addition with longitudinal section, the euphotic and aphotic zones are valued. The euphotic zone is the top portion of the estuary where most of the freshwater is located. The bottom portion where most of the ocean water is found is called the aphotic zone. Organisms that can cross this water column include organisms as little as bacteria and as big as seals and dolphins.