Cover for A Growing Industry: Advancing Oyster Aquaculture in Maryland
Cover photo by Jay Fleming


Cover for Equity and the Chesapeake Bay
In Curtis Bay, a neighborhood in southern Baltimore, train yards, coal storage facilities, oil refineries, port operations and a trash incinerator share the waterfront with rowhouses. Unequal distribution of clean air and water are key issues in environmental justice. Photo, Yazan Hasan

Cover for Aquatic Invaders of the Chesapeake
Before being eradicated in 2019, these invasive Dreissena mussels were thriving in Hyde’s Quarry near Westminster, Maryland. Photo, Michael Eversmier

Cover for Black on the Bay, Then and Now
Men steaming crabs on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Photo, Maryland Sea Grant College

Cover for Microplastics and the Chesapeake
Microplastics collected from the Patapso River by Lance Yonkos, an assistant professor at the University of Maryland, College Park. Photo credit: Chesapeake Bay Program

Cover for Groundwater and the Chesapeake Bay
A small groundwater-fed stream runs by a road just north of Gambrill State Park in Frederick, Maryland. Photo credit: Nicole Lehming / MDSG

Cover for A Closer Look at Our Water
A child explores Sinepuxent Bay on Assateague Island. Photo, Lisa Tossey

Cover for Handling a Changing Seafood Economy
A history of seafood markets, a look at seafood safety, a glimpse of a Greek future in aquaculture. This issue of our quarterly magazine might make you hungry.

Cover for The Measure of a Marsh
With sea level rise, some places will be gone before we ever really had a chance to know them.

Archive

Up in the Headwaters

 
2018


Cover photo: A stream flows through Green Ridge State Forest on its way to the Chesapeake 200 miles downstream. Photograph, Nicole Lehming

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Aquaculture Swims Ahead

 
2018


Cover photo: Bronzini broodstock, also known as European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax), swim in a tank at IMET’s Baltimore lab. Photograph, David Harp

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40 Years on the Bay

 
40th Anniversary Issue
2017


40 Years of . . .
Cover photo: A wooden boat finds a final resting place in a wetlands along a Virginia creek. Photograph, Jay Fleming

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The Eaters and the Eaten

 
2017


Cover photo: Striped bass like this one can grow to 60 pounds or more, making them among the top predators in the Chesapeake Bay and one of its most iconic fisheries. New scientific research has examined what stripers and other predators eat and how much — knowledge that may assist fisheries managers to ensure that harvests remain sustainable. Photograph, David Harp

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Mid-Term Exams for the Bay Cleanup

 
2017


Cover photo: Looking north along Maryland's Kent Island toward the Bay Bridge, you can see a diversity of land uses. Excess nutrients and sediment washing off the Chesapeake Bay's watershed are causing harm to the estuary's ecosystem. Scientists are using computer simulations to quantify these causes and effects to help leaders find the right solutions. Photograph, David Harp.

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Visions of the Bay

 
2016


Cover photo: This image of skipjacks in winter rafted together in Annapolis Harbor became a famous and popular poster for Marion E. Warren.

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Churches & the Chesapeake: Can Religion Save the Bay?

 
2016


Cover photo: This image shows two pillars of Eastern Shore life: a deadrise workboat and a Methodist church. The workboat is the Velma Dawn, docked on Parson's Creek just south of the Little Choptank River. The church has been known as Madison United Methodist and Joppa Methodist. Photograph: Michael W. Fincham

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Watching the Bay & Beyond

 
2016


Cover photo: This photograph was taken on the day this buoy was deployed for the Maryland Artifical Reef Initiative. Part of the Chesapeake Bay Interpretive Buoy System (CBIBS), the buoy collects data for boaters, students, and scientists. Photograph, Michael Eversmier for the Maryland Artificial Reef Initiative

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Going Green to Manage Urban Stormwater

 
2016


Cover photo: A John Hill crouches over a green roof overlooking the U.S. Capitol. His organization, the United Methodist General Board of Church and Society, installed the 6,800-square-foot vegetated roof in 2014 to reduce stormwater runoff and cut costs for air conditioning. Photograph, Skip Brown

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Growing Oyster Farms

 
2015


Catch a Thief (online feature)
The Longest War (online feature)
Cover photo: A worker with the Hooper Island Oyster Aquaculture Company checks on an oyster held during its growout phase in an underwater cage. The state of Maryland has been giving oyster aquaculture a hand up, hoping to create new businesses and new jobs in the state's Tidewater region. Photograph, Jay Fleming

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Life in the Ocean Next Door

 
2015


Cover photo: Did you know that Maryland's coastal ocean is home to colorful corals, like this bubblegum coral? They live in deep, dark submarine canyons more than 50 miles off the coast. Photograph, NOAA Office on Ocean Exploration and Research Photograph

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Where Science Meets Policy

 
2015


Cover photo: Reading the tale of the tape measure are Maryland politicians Bernie Fowler, a former state senator, and Steny Hoyer, current U.S. congressman. The water clarity mark for June 14 at the 2015 Patuxent River Wade-In measured 44.5 inches of light penetration. The Wade-In, which focuses attention on the health of the river, has been conducted yearly since 1988. Photograph, Michael W. Fincham

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Stream Restoration & a Healthier Bay

 
2015


Cover photo: Watts Branch, a tributary of the Anacostia River in Washington, D.C. In 2011, work was completed to install a series of pools and add rock structures to slow the flow of water. Photograph, David Harp

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Teaching Marine Science on the Bay

 
2014


Cover photo: Student fellows on their orientation cruise for Maryland Sea Grant’s Research Experiences for Under¬graduates program in summer 2013 pore over a bucket filled with oysters: (from left to right) Arthur Williams, Zachary Watkins, Jenessa Duncombe, Nicholas Taylor, Christine Schalkoff. Photograph, Sandy Rodgers

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Come High Water — Sea Level Rise and Chesapeake Bay

Cover photo: This house on Holland Island in the Chesapeake Bay stood for'more than a century. But the estuary's water level rose, the island eroded, and the inhabitants left. In 2010, the house — the last one left on the island — was swept into the Bay by encroaching waves. Photograph, David Harp
2014


The Rising: Why Sea Level Is Increasing
The Costs: Effects on People and the Land
The Response: How People Are Adapting

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Could Farmers Help Lower Costs for Bay Cleanup?

 
2014


Cover photo: Contour plantings like those on this farm in Frederick County, Maryland, help reduce runoff. Photograph, David Harp

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Digging into the Bay's Ancient Past

 
2013


Cover photo: On board the RV Marion Dufresne, a French research vessel, a deck worker gets ready to drop the giant Calypso corer, a sampling device that can drive deep into the bottom of the Chesapeake Bay. Photograph, Jenney Hall

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An Island Rises . . . Again

 
2013


Cover photo: A 2012 aerial shot of the reconstructed Poplar Island in the Chesapeake Bay shows the island's perimeter, which consists of boulders piled 10 feet high. A network of dikes separates marsh sections or "cells." Two natural islands, Jefferson and Coaches, lie to the right of Poplar. Photograph, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

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A Diverse Bay Watershed

 
2013


Cover photo: Spotted salamanders (Ambystoma maculatum), including this one lying on a log near Ithaca, New York, are common across the eastern United States, including in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Photograph, John Cancalosi.

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The Ups and Downs of Bay Stripers

 
2013


Cover photo: Billy Callaway (at the tiller, standing behind one of his workers) is the third generation of his family to fish for striped bass out of pound nets in the Chesapeake and its tributaries. Photograph, David Harp.

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Is the Bay Recovery Looking Up?

issue cover - an underwater fisheye-lens shot gives a dramatic view of bay grasses and a fisherman in the Susquehanna Flats. In recent years underwater grassbeds have suddenly expanded across the Flats, the broad, shoal-like shallows at the head of the Chesapeake Bay. Grass species returning to the Flats include redhead grass, coontail, watermilfoil, water stargrass, and wild celery. Photograph, Octavio Aburto.
 
2012
Cover photo: An underwater fisheye-lens shot gives a dramatic view of bay grasses and a fisherman in the Susquehanna Flats. In recent years underwater grassbeds have suddenly expanded across the Flats, the broad, shoal-like shallows at the head of the Chesapeake Bay. Grass species returning to the Flats include redhead grass, coontail, watermilfoil, water stargrass, and wild celery. Photograph, Octavio Aburto.

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A Model Cleanup for the Bay

issue cover - Full of twists and turns that stand out in this satellite image, the Chesapeake Bay and its watershed make up a grand and complex ecosystem. Scientists in the region are working to represent that entire environment using computer simulations, efforts that are guiding a new push to clean up the Bay. Photograph, NASA Scientific Visualization Studio.
 
2012
Cover photo: Full of twists and turns that stand out in this satellite image, the Chesapeake Bay and its watershed make up a grand and complex ecosystem. Scientists in the region are working to represent that entire environment using computer simulations, efforts that are guiding a new push to clean up the Bay. Photograph, NASA Scientific Visualization Studio.

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Tracking the Blue Crab Comeback

issue cover.jpg
 
35th Anniversary Issue
2012
Cover photo:Blue crabs big enough for the "basket trade." These crabs can be sold for steaming and eating at summertime crab feasts. You can tell these are female crabs: they "paint their nails red." Photograph by Michael W. Fincham.

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Acid Test for the Great Shellfish Bay?

issue cover - Did Algonquin tribes call the Chesapeake a "great shellfish bay?" Scholars disagree on the origins of the Bay's name, but scientists agree that the waters of the Chesapeake were once the greatest oyster grounds in the world. A new generation of oyster farmers could face a new challenge if acid levels rise in the estuary. Photograph by Michael W. Fincham.
 
2012
Cover photo:Did Algonquin tribes call the Chesapeake a "great shellfish bay?" Scholars disagree on the origins of the Bay's name, but scientists agree that the waters of the Chesapeake were once the greatest oyster grounds in the world. A new generation of oyster farmers could face a new challenge if acid levels rise in the estuary. Photograph by Michael W. Fincham.

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Dams, Sediment & the Bay

issue cover - The Conowingo Dam opened its gates to alleviate flooding on September 9, 2011, as Tropical Storm Lee swept through the area. Photograph by Patrick Semansky, Associated Press.
 
2011


Cover photo:The Conowingo Dam opened its gates to alleviate flooding on September 9, 2011, as Tropical Storm Lee swept through the area. Photograph by Patrick Semansky, Associated Press.

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Menhaden: A Test Case for New Fisheries Management

 
2011


Cover photo: More pounds of menhaden are landed each year than any other fish in the Chesapeake. The fish is valuable not only commercially but for the ecosystem — it provides food that sustains striped bass and ospreys and many other predatory fish and birds. With menhaden stocks at their lowest point in half a century, is it time to try a different kind of management?

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The Bays Beneath the Bay

issue cover - The Chesapeake Bay Bridge seen from the eastern side by Michael W. Fincham
 
2011


Cover photo:The Chesapeake Bay Bridge, seen from the eastern side, was designed with a high suspension span in the center to allow large ships to pass through on their way to and from Baltimore. The deepest waters under the bridge are not found under the high center span, but under the smaller span near the Eastern Shore. Buried beneath the eastern side of the Bay is the 18,000-year-old paleochannel of the Susquehanna River. Photograph, Michael W. Fincham.

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Ready for Rising Waters?

issue cover - headwaters of the Corsica River by Erica Goldman
2010


Cover photo:In the low-lying area of Maryland's Eastern Shore, houses on Hooper's Island, are especially vulnerable to rising sea levels. After heavy rains and higher than average tides, water can pool in front yards and make impassable the one road that bisects this narrow sliver of land. Photograph, Erica Goldman.

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Restoring the Bay One River at a Time

issue cover - headwaters of the Corsica River by Erica Goldman
2010



This Issue's Video:
Cover photo:Thick and murky, the headwaters of the Corsica River drain nutrient-laden water dowstream to the mainstem Bay. Suspended sediment clouds the water along with single-celled algae thriving on a feast of excess nitrogen. Photograph, Erica Goldman.

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A Future for Oyster Farming?

Issue cover - taylor floats. Photograph, Michael W. Fincham.
2010


Cover photo:Bubba Parker works his way down a line of oyster floats at the Choptank Oyster Farm. Turning the floats helps burn off the algal biofouling that builds up on the underside. Photograph, Michael W. Fincham.

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Of Marsh & Mud on the Anacostia

Marsh and mudflat intermingle at Kingman Marsh. Photograph, Erica Goldman.
2010


Cover photo:Marsh and mudflat intermingle at Kingman Marsh on the Anacostia River. Heart-shaped spadderdock (foreground) thrives, one of the few species not palatable to hungry resident geese. Photograph, Erica Goldman.

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Can Trees Save the Bay?

Trees in western Maryland. Photograph, Jack Greer.
2009


Cover photo:Trees stretch toward western Maryland on a bright October morning. It's in the Bay watershed's western reaches that most big stands of forest remain. edge was impressive. Though early forest. Photograph, Jack Greer.

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Keeping Swimmers Safe

Algal Turf Scrubber. Photograph, Michael W. Fincham.
2009



Cover photo:Rescue boards in hand, rookie lifeguards hit the beach at Ocean City, Maryland. Their final training exercise includes using these surfer-style boards, often the fastest way to reach a swimmer caught in a rip current. Photograph, Michael W. Fincham.

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Blocking Species Invasions in the Bay

Algal Turf Scrubber. Photograph, Erica Goldman.
2009


Cover photo:Dark sentinel on the Baltimore waterfront, the MV Cape Washingtonkeeps watch after its return from the war in Iraq. While it waits in ready reserve, the ship serves as a maritime test facility, helping to defend against invasive species transported in ballast water. Photograph, Jessica Smits.

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Algae to Biofuels for a Healthier Bay

Algal Turf Scrubber. Photograph, Erica Goldman.
2009


Cover photo:Like a conveyor belt for nutrient removal, this Algal Turf Scrubber uses mats of algae to take up nitrogen and phosphorus. Could devices like this help clean Susquehanna River water before it reaches the Chesapeake Bay? Photograph, Erica Goldman.

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Terrapins: The Fall & Rise

Gloom of the Chesapeake, which grows murkier every year. Photograph, Michael Eversmier, Aqua Ventures, Inc.
2008


Cover photo:The diamondback terrapin is known as the mascot of the University of Maryland College Park and the official state reptile. This particular diamondback is known as Patsy, and she was rescued by Marguerite Whilden of the TerrapinInstitute and Research Consortium. Photograph, John Consoli.

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Looking for Light

Gloom of the Chesapeake, which grows murkier every year. Photograph, Michael Eversmier, Aqua Ventures, Inc.
2008


Cover photo:Light bathes an oyster bar, with a little help from professional photographers. Veteran underwater cinematographer Nick Caloyianis (pictured here, with light), carefully set up this shot of a restored oyster reef, built on rubble from the Wilson Bridge. Behind him lies the unlit gloom of the Chesapeake, which grows murkier every year. Photograph, Michael Eversmier, Aqua Ventures, Inc.

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Renewing an Urban Watershed

tree-lined median strip - Photograph, Skip Brown
2008



Cover photo:Green returns to Fulton Street. For a long time local residents fought to bring back a median originally designed in the early 1900s by Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., son of the famed landscape architect who created New York's Central Park. The historic median disappeared in 1951 with the widening of Route 1, a north-south trucking route. With truck traffic drawn to bigger highways and after 12 years of community pressure, the city restored a 1.5-mile-long tree-lined median to this West Baltimore neighborhood. Photograph, Skip Brown.

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Seafood & the Bay

oysters at Harris Seafood - Photograph, Skip Brown
2008



This Issue's Video:
Cover photo:Oysters come streaming into Harris Seafood from the Chesapeake but also from the Carolinas, the Gulf, and New England. Local processors depend on product from waters far away and workers from other countries - especially guest workers from Mexico - to keep afloat. Photograph, Skip Brown.

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The Bay around Us

autumn sunset at the mouth of the West River - Photograph, Sandy Rodgers
Special 30th Anniversary Issue
2007


Cover photo: Autumn sunset at the mouth of the West River. Photograph, Sandy Rodgers.

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Mussel Power — Can It Help Clean The Bay?

dark false mussels on a piling - Photograph, Peter Bergstrom
2007



This Issue's Videos:
Cover photo: Clinging to any free surface they could find, dark false mussels encrusted ropes like this one in the summer of 2004, when a bivalve explosion took the Magothy, South, and Severn rivers by storm. Photograph, Peter Bergstrom.

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Whatever Happened to Pfiesteria?

grounded boat - Photograph, Michael W. Fincham
2007



This Issue's Videos:
Cover photo: A hint of irony graces this trailered boat in an Eastern Shore fishing community. The Pfiesteria crisis of 1997 put watermen ouf of work and led to river closures, public panic, and a loss of $40 million in seafood sales in Maryland. Photograph, Michael W. Fincham.

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Counting Blue Crabs in Winter

Dredging crabs
2007


Cover photo: Dredging crabs is winter work for mate Eddie Weber, aboard the Mydra Ann, as watermen help scientists survey blue crabs in the Chesapeake. Photograph, Skip Brown.

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Global Warming and the Bay

Chesapeake Bay
2006


Cover photo: As water temperatures rise and precipitation patterns change in a warming atmosphere,marshes like this one in the Chesapeake Bay will feel the effects. Photograph, Skip Brown.

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The MSX Files — Unmasking an Oyster Killer

Gene Burreson and Nancy Stokes read an X-ray film
2006


Gene Burreson and Nancy Stokes read an X-ray film showing the sequence of a key section of the DNA of MSX, the parasite that devastated oyster populations in both Delaware and Chesapeake bays. Though X-ray films have now given way to computer screens, the earlier technique provided a key to finally figuring out the probable origins of the MSX parasite. Photograph, Michael W. Fincham.

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Lessons Aquatic Microbes Can Teach

Bacteria in the water
2006


Denizens of a world beyond human perception, bacteria in aquatic environments can perform complex ecological feats. (Top right) Sacchariphagus degradans 2-40, Photograph, Ronald Weiner; (middle) Silicibacter TM1040, Photograph © Dennis Kunkel Microscopy, Inc; (bottom) Dehalococcoides ethenogenes, Photograph, Stephen Zinder.

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The Storm Over Drains

2006


Cover photo: Corralling the rain, a new storm drain sends fine silt towards Beards Creek. Construction recasts the region's natural hydrology. Photograph, Jack Greer.

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Can Oysters Thrive Again?
Modelers Confront the Bay's Complexity

Crassostrea virginica larvae
2005


Cover photo: Like glittering gems, oyster larvae recall a time when watermen dubbed abundant Chesapeake Bay oysters "white gold." Invisible to the naked eye, these larvae of the native oyster, Crassostrea virginica, use tiny hairlike cilia to swim in search of a place to settle. Photograph, Maryland Sea Grant Extension.

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Chesapeake Passage

The 66,000-ton giant M/V Taiko - by Michael Fincham
2005



This Issue's Videos:
Cover photo: Pride of the Wallenius-Wilhelmsen Line of Norway, the 66,000-ton giant Taiko heads up the Chesapeake in early May. Photograph by Michael W. Fincham.

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Farms and the Bay



Farm next to a Chesapeake Bay tributary with buffer of grasses to slow runoff of sediment and nutrients. By Skip Brown.
2005
Cover photo: Like many other Eastern Shore farmlands, this one lies next to a tributary of the Chesapeake Bay and has a buffer of grasses to slow runoff of sediment and nutrients. Photograph, Skip Brown.

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The Fishman Cometh

Adam Frederick carries living cargo into the classrooms of Maryland high schools. By Michael W. Fincham
2004


This Issue's Videos:
Cover photo: Adam Frederick carries living cargo into the classrooms of Maryland high schools. Photograph, Michael W. Fincham.

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On the Road to Restoration?

Wetlands are major buffers. View of a Bay marsh by Skip Brown
2004


This Issue's Videos:
Cover photo: Wetlands are major buffers filtering out large quantities of sediment, pollutants and nutrients before they reach streams, rivers and bays. Photograph, Skip Brown.

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Seeing The Big Picture — Monitoring the Bay from the Air

View of the Bay from the airplane showing Kent Island - by Jack Greer
2004


Cover photo: A summer day from 500 feet, looking north across Kent Island toward the Bay Bridge. Photograph, Jack Greer.

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Oceanographers on the Bay

 Bill Boicourt standing in from of the RV Cape Henlopen - by Michael W. Fincham
2004



This Issue's Videos:
Cover photo: Bill Boicourt, in front of the R.V. Cape Henlopen, before a research cruise. Photograph, Michael W. Fincham.

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Managing Fisheries for the Future

Great blue heron on the Anacostia River - by Skip Brown
2003


Cover photo: Bycatch - like this basket of croakers on a crabbing boat - provides one example of how each fishery involves more than a single species. Photograph, Skip Brown.

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Following Those Who Follow the Water

Roy and Ryan Ford in doorway of the shanty where they shed soft crabs - by Skip Brown
2003



This Issue's Videos:
Cover photo: Getting ready for the start of crabbing season, watermen Roy Ford and son Ryan stand in the doorway of the shanty where they shed soft crabs. Photograph, Skip Brown.

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The Anacostia: Restoring a Ruined River

Great blue heron on the Anacostia River - by Skip Brown
2003



This Issue's Videos:

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Skipjacks for the 21st Century

The skipjack City of Chrisfield at a dock in Eastern Shore, Maryland - photo by Skip Brown
2003



This Issue's Videos:

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A New Oyster for the Bay?

Early morning aboard the Miss Eleanor, waterman Alton Brown culls through piles of shell he has tonged to retrieve oysters at least three inches in length. Photo by Skip Brown
2002



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Digging up the Past: Paleoecology and the Bay

Pulling a core from the Bay by boat
2002



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Our Changing Vision of the Chesapeake

Workboat leaving the dock
2002



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