A new report shows some vital improvements in the Chesapeake Bay over the last few years. The Chesapeake Bay Program reports 76-thousand acres of underwater grasses were mapped in the bay in 2022, representing a 12 percent increase over 2021, and 9 percent higher than the long-run average since 1984. Seagrasses were observed to be in decline prior to Hurricane Agnes in 1972, which nearly wiped them out. Restoration efforts have been ongoing since the 1980s. Doug Myers with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation says seagrasses are a vital part of the ecosystem.
"They cement the sediments together with their roots, they produce oxygen to dissolve into the water. They provide all kinds of cover for things like crabs as they're molting. And as they're dying back in the fall, they become food for migrating waterfowl. So they're one of those keystone type species in the bay, that without them, the bay was considered sick and dying."  The underwater grasses in the bay are measured annually by an aerial survey carried out by the Virginia Institute of Marine Science.
The long-term goal set out in The Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement is to restore 185-thousand acres of seagrass. Seagrass in the bay is harmed by pollution, changes in salinity, or when the water becomes clouded with algal blooms or suspended sediment and sunlight is prevented from reaching the seafloor. Progress in the restoration of bay seagrass was set back substantially by record rainfall in 2018 which led to an excess of sediments and pollution in the bay, in addition to changes in salinity. Given the long-term nature of the decline and restoration, Myers says people may be unfamiliar with seagrass.
 "In the last 10 years, we're seeing seagrasses coming back to places that it hasn't been for 20 or 30 years. So it's a new phenomenon, and with people they might think it's something invasive that we have to get rid of. And so, we've been out there trying to tell the story that no, this is a really good thing, it's a sign that the cleanup is working."
For more info on underwater grasses in the bay, visit chesapeakeprogress.com