Chesapeake Research Consortium, Inc

The Chesapeake Bay estuary is one of the largest estuaries in the United States covering a drainage area of approximately 64,000 square miles. Establishment of the Chesapeake Bay Agreement in 1983 was the first cooperative effort outlining restoration and protection of the Bay by improving water quality and living resources. In 2000, Batiuk et al. published a comprehensive report to provide an increased understanding of habitat requirements for submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV). It included target levels for water quality parameters necessary to support continued SAV survival and propagation as well as restoration efforts. However, the report focused mainly on the meso- and polyhaline SAV species present in tidal regions of the Bay. Strong in the view that upstream improvements will reduce downstream problems, select groups have more recently increased their interest in freshwater (FW) and low salinity SAV in the watershed. But scientific information pertaining to FW SAV in the Chesapeake Bay system is minimal. This information is critical for the health of the entire aquatic Bay ecosystem because the successful restoration of FW SAV is key to reducing the nutrient, contaminant, and suspended solid loads bombarding our lower Bay from its headwaters. The repercussions of their decline and/or loss are broad reaching, having the potential to impact pelagic and benthic flora and fauna through poorer water quality and increased eutrophication.