Chesapeake underwater grasses decline for a second year

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — The Chesapeake Bay Program says acreage of underwater grasses in the bay shrank for the second year in a row last year.

The Daily Press reports that aerial surveys showed more than 62,000 acres of the underwater grasses that serve as a home to small blue crabs and many fish. That’s a decrease of 7% from 2019 and 42% from 2018 _ far below the program’s target of 130,000 acres by 2025. According to a program report released last week, pollution and sediment, which block sunlight, remain a challenge.

The biggest declines came in the moderately salty water of Tangier Sound, the mouth of the Choptank River and in the Little Choptank River, where about 5,600 acres disappeared.

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