The Chesapeake Bay Foundation called for increased efforts to reduce nutrient and sediment pollution and for additional support of restoration efforts to rescue the Bay’s ecologically essential underwater grasses. The Chesapeake Bay Program’s annual underwater grasses survey documented an 8-percent loss bay-wide in grass acreage from 1997 to 1998. Historically, it is estimated that the Bay has lost over 88 percent of its underwater grasses.

"The loss of underwater grasses, particularly in Tangier Sound, is an ecological tragedy," said CBF President William C. Baker. "It’s also a stark and unequivocal example of how water pollution continues to damage Chesapeake Bay."

Tangier Sound, an area that serves as habitat for much of the Bay’s blue crab population, has lost 63 percent of its underwater grass acreage since 1992, according to the survey. In 1998 alone, the region witnessed a 30-percent reduction in acreage. The losses of underwater grasses have been linked to the decline in the Bay’s crab population. "The loss of grasses has impacts far beyond the Bay ecosystem," said Baker. "If we continue to lose grasses at these rates, we risk destroying the bay’s most valuable commercial fishery, putting many people out of business, and significantly hurting local economies."

Underwater grasses provide critical habitat for many Bay organisms. Small fish, crabs, and shrimp use the thick meadows as protection from predators. During the most vulnerable stages of its life, blue crabs hide in the meadows while they molt or reproduce. Tangier Sound has been referred to as the "nursery of the Bay" for harboring blue crabs in their annual migrations up and down the Bay. Blue crabs became the Bay’s most valuable commercial fishery in the 1980s after overharvesting, pollution, and disease reduced oyster populations to less than 1 percent of their historic levels. Currently, a substantial amount of the crabs sold in Bay-area restaurants and markets is imported.

Beyond their value as habitat, underwater grasses reduce sediment and nutrient pollution, feed waterfowl, and protect property from storm and wave damage. Because they rely on good water quality to grow, underwater grasses are a key barometer of the Bay’s health.

"To restore underwater grasses, our first step is to improve water quality," said Baker. "If we improve water quality and restore underwater grasses, we will start an ecological chain reaction that in turn further improves water quality and promotes even more underwater grass growth. Coupled with oyster restoration, we can have a dramatic impact on the Bay’s health – it will be like a vicious cycle in reverse."

To achieve this will require significant reductions in nutrient pollution, the majority of which comes from sewage treatment plants and agriculture, especially the poultry industry concentrated in the lower Eastern Shore region. Lawns, golf courses, and other areas that use fertilizer also play a part. The other significant factor is sediment pollution, which is primarily the result of intensive development and erosion caused by reductions in the amount of vegetation and wetlands on the land.

CBF is spearheading an effort by underwater grass researchers and managers to identify the specific causes of the underwater grasses decline in Tangier Sound so that direct actions can be taken to reverse the downward trend. Additionally, CBF protects the Bay’s existing acres of underwater grasses and restores grasses in other areas through hands-on, volunteer-driven restoration programs. Working together with Maryland Department of Natural Resources and the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, CBF’s Grasses for the Masses and Bay Grasses in Classes programs will transplant tens of thousands of underwater grass plants in 10 different Bay sites this year. CBF also works with key partners and decisionmakers to promote legislation that protects and restores underwater grasses. All of CBF’s activities, whether land-use planning, wetland protection, or riparian buffer planting, aim to improve the Bay’s water quality.