The San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, a complex of bridges spanning San Francisco Bay in California, is set to shine again starting in 2025 after a fundraising campaign by nonprofit arts organization Illuminate brought in nearly $11 million. The Bay Lights installation, spanning 1.8 miles on the region’s workhorse bridge, has been off since March 2023. A bigger version will take its place. The Golden Gate Bridge and Bay Bridge are both surprisingly old, having been in operation for almost a century.
The Chesapeake Bay Bridge, also known as the Bay Bridge, is a vital transportation link connecting the eastern and western shores of the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. The Oso Bay Bridge between Texas A & M – Corpus Christis Ward Island campus and the Corpus Christi Naval Air Station is a local favorite for wade fishing for trout all year. San Francisco drivers will endure heavy congestion as several freeway offramps and lanes, including on the Bay Bridge, are set to close starting Tuesday.
The San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, on Interstate 80, crosses the San Francisco Bay and connects San Francisco and Alameda counties. It is made up of two bridge segments: a skyway structure/single anchored suspension bridge between Oakland and Yerba Buena Island for vehicles with a protected bicycle and pedestrian pathway, and a suspension bridge. The east span of the bridge was last inspected in September 2021, with the San Francisco side listed as in fair condition.
In 2018, the FHWA updated its bridge condition metrics, deprecating terms like “Structurally Deficient” and “Structurally Sound” in favor of “Good, Fair.” Key bridge elements are mostly fine, but a new issue emerges with rods at the base of the new tower.
📹 Is This The Scariest Bridge In America?
The Chesapeake Bay Bridge in Maryland reaches nearly 200 feet in certain parts and measures 4.3-miles long from end to end …
Could a ship take out the Golden Gate Bridge?
The north tower sits partly on land, so any large ship would run aground before colliding with it. The Golden Gate Bridge has the best ship protection on the West Coast, Cosulich-Schwartz said. There’s a moat around the south tower pier. On Tuesday, the Baltimore Francis Scott Key Bridge had little chance of survival when a cargo ship rammed into it. Experts said the bridge’s vertical support structure seemed flimsy and did not have a substantial impact barrier. On Tuesday, a cargo ship lost power as it left Baltimore’s port at 8 knots. The ship hit one of the bridge’s support piers, and the structure broke almost instantly. The bridge’s southern and central spans collapsed. Then the northern span. The bridge fell into the river in 25 seconds. Six members of a construction crew working on the bridge were still missing as of Tuesday afternoon. Other victims might still be found.
How safe are Bay Area bridges?
Experts say Bay Area bridges are strong because they are built to withstand earthquakes. The Golden Gate Bridge has extra protection. The Golden Gate Bridge has the best ship collision protection on the West Coast, said Paolo Cosulich-Schwartz with Golden Gate Highway and Transportation District. The Golden Gate Bridge’s north and south towers have extra reinforcement.
RELATED: A list of US bridge collapses caused by ships and barges.
How deep is it under the Bay Bridge?
The Bay Bridge is an amazing engineering feat. It crosses the bay between San Francisco and Yerba Buena Island. The bay is up to 100 feet deep in places, so a massive concrete anchorage had to be built in the middle. The cantilever section between Yerba Buena Island and Oakland was also a big engineering challenge. It has the deepest pier in the world at 242 feet below the water and more concrete than the Empire State Building. The San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge is going to be replaced. In October 1989, the Loma Prieta earthquake damaged the eastern cantilever section of the Bay Bridge. This marked the end of the Bay Bridge’s long history. It’s too expensive to fix, so they’re building a new span.
What is the fear of driving over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge?
Steven Eskew has run Kent Island Express for 11 years. Drivers take passengers for a fee. The Chesapeake Bay Bridge is 4.3 miles long and is scary for people with gephyrophobia. The Key Bridge tragedy has led to more calls about the Bay Bridge, Eskew said, with 12 to 20 calls per day. Since the bridge collapsed, many calls are from people seeking reassurance about the Bay Bridge. “We’re PR, info, therapists, and drivers,” Eskew said as another customer called.
Is the Bay Bridge safe San Francisco?
Bay Bridge. The last inspection of the west span of the Bay Bridge was in December 2022. The east span was last inspected in September 2021. The San Francisco side, built in 1936, is listed as in fair condition. The eastern span, built in 2013, is in good condition. Both spans of the bridge must be inspected every two years. In 2007, the Bay Bridge almost collided with the container ship Cosco Busan. However, a spokesperson for the Metropolitan Transportation Commission said that the fenders helped protect the bridge.
What is the safest part of San Francisco for tourists?
Where to stay in San Francisco for first-time visitors. The Marina District and Fisherman’s Wharf are the best places for tourists to feel safe in San Francisco. These places are near the main attractions, so there’s lots to do nearby. It’s easy to walk around. Or, if you want to avoid tourist areas, consider staying at Nob Hill. If this is your first time, you may be nervous about homelessness and drug use. No matter what, remember these safety tips when you visit San Francisco: Don’t leave valuables in cars. Hide your valuables and avoid crowded areas at night.
Is the Chesapeake Bay Bridge safe?
The Bay Bridge is safe. Follow the rules. Are you scared to drive the 20 miles over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge & Tunnel?
How strong are Bay Area bridges?
Local engineers say residents. We have strong bridges here in the Bay Area.
How deep is the ocean under the Chesapeake Bay Bridge?
The tunnels run under the bay, allowing ships and boats to travel over them. The tunnels connect to the bridge sections via four islands. The water is 25 to 100 feet deep, according to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel Commission. Before the bridge was built, cars crossed the water on ferries. The Chesapeake Bay was to the west and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. The 23-mile Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel had only one northbound and one southbound lane until 1999, when one more lane was added in each direction. Over 100 million cars and trucks have driven on the bridge-tunnel since 1964.
Is Bay Bridge vulnerable?
Experts say some of the Bay Bridges concrete piers, in the middle of the shipping channel, could be vulnerable to a ship collision like the one that destroyed the Key Bridge. The bridge is unsafe, said Adel ElSafty, an engineering professor at the University of North Florida. It should be reassessed in light of the Key Bridge collapse. “It could be vulnerable to a ship impact.” CNN reviewed the safety features of more than a dozen major US bridges that cross shipping channels to the country’s largest ports. Most bridges have stronger defenses against ship collisions than the Key Bridge did. They have more robust fender systems or larger concrete structures designed to deflect oncoming vessels. This is according to statements from local officials and interviews with more than a half-dozen structural engineering experts.
📹 Will the Chesapeake Become a Dead Zone?
In the 45000 square mile Chesapeake Bay, the country’s largest estuary, nitrogen and phosphorus from wastewater treatment …
I drove over this thing for the first time about a month ago, late at night; let’s just say that I was tense the whole drive, and was as close to the steering wheel as those grandmas in the movies. It did not help that when I tried looking to my left, I saw that the other driving side of the bridge was feet apart, each side separated from the other by water! I hope I never have to drive over it again!
As someone who’s family goes over this bridge almost everyday, it’s interesting to hear what other people have to say on it. I for one find it peaceful to cross, although it’s quite common for heavy traffic to take place and to be stuck on the bridge for 20 minutes at a time, which gives you enough time to look out on the water at the nearby ships.
Was stationed at Pax River and have driven across this bridge can’t even remember how many times. It is challenging in bad weather or high winds, but not bad in normal conditions. Got stuck on the bridge one day due to an accident and it turned into a block party with people getting out of their cars. Have also flown over this bridge a few times but never have been under it in a boat. Never thought there is a market for driving people over it, but apparently there is. What a great idea this guy had. FLY NAVY!!!
I was driving across that bridge taking my daughter back to college when she suddenly freaked out. Yelling, swatting, opening the windows, screaming for me to stop the car, she scared me so bad I swerved into another lane.. all because of a wasp in the car. I told her that getting stung is preferable to driving off a bridge at 200 ft above the Chesapeake Bay! I dont think she’d thought that one through.. 🐝 🤪 Eventually she graduated.. 👩🎓
I have driven across this one a few times while traveling the east coast, it was long and I remember there was an underground tunnel that we drove through (I’m prob thinking of another bridge) but I DO remember it being a very long tunnel bridge (the tunnels go underground I believe) and I still enjoy it whenever I go that way!
I have a fear of certain high bridges. The old one in Charleston SC was terrifying. The bay bridge is not that bad. I’m more afraid of mountain roads that come close to the edge and you can see down a steep cliff. I was going down a mountain interstate once and my brakes began to give out! Had to drive all the way down in low gear…truck drivers blew their horns angrily.
I used to commute everyday from the Eastern Shore to DC for work. Not a big deal to cross this bridge. I did go over it once in a blizzard and followed a cop all the way over. The snow was whipping up over the sides of the bridge..it was incredible! It looked like a snow tunnel. I found out later that the authorities closed the bridge that night 10 minutes after I crossed it.
PERSPECTIVE: he said he drove 19 people on the bridge each charging $25. That’s 475 in one day times 5 is 2375. Times 4 is 9500. Times 9500 by 12 and thats 114000 a year. This guy has the capability of making that much in one year simply driving others across a bridge and that bridge is not going anywhere to hurt his business. College graduates and 9-5 employees have no excuse not to make a profitable business, money is out there you just have to find it.
In hindsight, I’m so glad I did not know how terrifying this bridge was before I crossed I crossed it on a solo trip from Baltimore to ocean city. Because if I did I probably would not have gone. I was shocked by how long and scary that bridge is. It’s absolutely terrifying for someone who does not like heights.
Before the second bridge was built, the bridge was one lane each way with no divider. I remember going over it then and it was scary! Going eastbound, there is a grate in the road at the highest part that would makes the drivers side tires feel all “squirrelly”. Would always be white knuckled driving it.
I used to live in Annapolis in the 90’s. I don’t know if it’s still the same, but when you were heading to Kent Island, the guardrail’s almost seemed to disappear on that bridge on part of it, and it really almost looked like you were driving on a ribbon of concrete with nothing to stop you from going over the side. It was a hell of an optical illusion and I could see how that alone could freak people out about it. The worst part about that bridge was traffic, especially during rush hour. Route 50 blew up with subdivisions while we were living there and the commuter traffic was crazy.
I can totally understand her fear of Bridges, and height. Decades ago while crossing the Burlington Bristol Bridge off Rte. 130, coming from Bristol, PA, on the open-up grate at the top, we had the left front tire come off my car, entirely! The car veered to the side and we could have crashed. On the way back over to the PA side a week later, same car, I had a right front blow out. It was the same policeman that helped me out also. We got rid of the car, and I’m still terrified of Bridges, as my son might feel the same, as he was with me on the first hair-raising experience. Fear of Bridges is a very real phobia, and height also. The Burlington Bristol Bridge is also very tall!
I had a boyfriend who was absolutely terrified of heights. I for one am not whatsoever. I remember we had to cross a big bridge one time and he started crying and panicking. I felt so bad for him. I told him it was ok, I’m here for you and I just talked about things completely unrelated to that bridge and/or heights. This job would be perfect for me!
I’m a Midwestern person born and raised, but when I was a teenager I went on a sailing trip to the Chesapeake Bay, and I rode over the bridge as a passenger. I had never been on a bridge so long and so high before. I was a little scared going over it but also quite fascinated by the view of the bay. Ironically, when I was on my sailing trip our boat went right underneath the bridge. After leaving the sailing trip to drive back home to Illinois I went back over the bridge but wasn’t scared at all; I actually thought it was fun.
The first time I drove across this bridge (it had another name posted) I thought the toll was outrageous but once I was out on it I must have said “holy cow” about a hundred times. I then remembered I had seen part of a documentary about it. After we got across I no longer thought the toll was too high. I can’t even believe such infrastructure exists. I don’t think I could handle driving across it now unfortunately I am a nervous wreck the past few years.
Someone on here previously mentioned that one at Astoria wash or Oregon. I think it crosses the mouth of the Columbia. Ore to wash. It looked awfully high. It seemed like the entrance was awfully hairy looking. I’ve been over it though and am a person who suffers from anxiety trouble. Anyway I’d like to see a piece on that one.
It’s very interesting the fears ppl have. To some it’s just a bridge totally normal but two very different ppl have the same fear of this bridge it’s incredible. a very big fear I have is seeing a tornado on a open clean field like no houses no nothing just field with a tornado spinning very scary thought for me
i’ve been crossing this bridge, (both of them) since i was a toddler. Used to be a time when i could finish a beer on the way across while on a sudden, “hey, let’s go to the beach”, friday night whim. Any more, it’s a few times a year and i’ve never had an issue. i can see how it would be daunting to some though.
I used to cry when I was kid when I knew we were going over this bridge. Once you get to the toll booth there is NO turning back. The thing that scares me the most is that people would speed on this bridge regardless if it’s foggy or not and the road to me is tight and narrow. So your very close to the car next to you. You have to cross the bridge if you want to go to Chesapeake Beach or Ocean city. It’s really scary to me. One time I was on the bridge and it was strong winds that day and all the cars were swaying and I cried my eyes out but my dad had to hold the steering wheel tight and tried to keep the car as straight as he could because you aren’t allowed to slow down on the bridge and there is nowhere to pull over, you just have to keep driving. If you have a fear of heights then please don’t drive this bridge. You will freak out and don’t look over because you might see people working on the bridge which will freak you out even more. It’s even worse when you get stuck in traffic on this bridge… It will really screw with anxiety!
Lol. I grew up going over the Chesapeake Bay bridge. It’s not scary at all until you’re sitting in gridlock or during the summer when they shut down one lane in the Westbound span to open it to Eastbound traffic. Once I was on my motorcycle and I didn’t know the 3rd EB lane was open and unfortunately I was forced to take that extra lane. But that’s the only way it scares me.
The first time I drove over the bridge I was by myself. I love the Bay Bridge. I’ve driven over it a few times just for the fun of it. I’ve thought about driving people over the bridge as a job, but I live over 50 miles away. The commute is too long. The bridge I hate is the Harry Nice Bridge over the Potomac River.
I’m from Maryland and I drove over this a million times but I will say it’s not even scary cause of the weather and height. It’s scary bc you haven’t seen bad driving until you come to MD. Being from Maryland my whole life I was brought up thinking PA drivers were the absolute worse and I can tell you that’s far from the truth. MD has some of the biggest idiot drivers you will ever come across
The article of the bridge in Tacoma was a huge lesson for engineers and physics because what happened was the bridge was built such that it resonated with the wind. The wind caused the vibration of the bridge to amplify. Causing the motion seen in the article. If you think about when you’re swinging on a swing and you time your pump to the length of your swing so that you end up going higher and higher. That is the same thing that happened with the bridge so engineers have made it so that Bridges will never do that again. The Chesapeake Bay bridge is very safe except for maybe the fact that you could drive right off of it if you weren’t paying attention.
I’ve driven over this bridge a couple times and I usually have no problem with bridges but this one did freak me out a little. Not to the point that I couldn’t drive, but it just made me anxious. It’s just really high, the guard rail is short, and there is no shoulder, so you can see down to the water almost right under you. It’s a weird feeling
That woman is not the only one that has fears of crossing bridges. I currently learning how to let go of certain things that bothers me personally. I need to seriously overcome 1. Loud noises(such as motorcyclist, train noise, landscapers). 2. People being on their cell phones. 3. Cluterphonia 4. Distracted drivers. 5. Negative energy. I need to learn how to ignore or remove myself from these type of situation. It’s tough, but I will break those barriers.
First I want to say I’ve driven across this bridge a number of times myself out here and it still scares me. What Inside Edition did not mention that there have also been several crashes on this very bridge and one time I was heading back home from Ocean City and the bridge was shut down for about an hour because of reports that it started to sway, this was not a joke!!!!
As a kid was old enough to remember my mom had to take us with her to Chesapeake Bay bridge cause my father fell off the bridge while doing construction with my uncle who owned his own construction company on the shore only time m scared is when windy and foggy but there that it’s so neat knowing I flying into BWI and land and family pick me and and ride across the Chesapeake Bay bridge 😍❤️
The Chesapeake is where I grew up. It was my backyard, workplace, and refuge. I witnessed incredible natural events like mass spawning and bird migrations that filled me with wonder. I also saw little things like a pair of swans that raised a family every year and two huge snapping turtles that wrestled for territory where my boat was slipped. The old Tangier islanders’ stories of giant gar, the Oyster Wars, and smuggling adventures still fill my dreams 45 years later.
Waste from chicken poop running into the bay is also frustrating because it could be used as fertilizer if properly handled. Fertilizer prices have gone way up I recent years and this seems like an untapped resource that could turn something harmful into something beneficial. Also, adding ditches besides fields and creating ponds for runoff to pause in can help remove those nutrients from the water it would reach the bay.
As a former personel at a certain WWTP in the Baltimore area I got to see first hand how neglected these facilities are and what the actual pollution data looked like. These facilities are truly crumbling down inside and out. Entire sections of the plant are rendered inoperable due to excessive buildup of fats and sludge. Frequent pipe bursts inside the building, non-functioning A/C in the summer, etc.
I grew up there. I sailed a dingy (dinghy) all over the bay. I saw massive fish kills back in the 60’s during the Vietnam war. I ate a lot of crab, striped bass, clams and oysters out of that water. Back then there was raw sewage going into the bay from the Back River whenever it rained hard in Baltimore, the storm water would overflow the sewage treatment plant, and it washed the raw sewage into the bay. All of the boats and shipping dumped sewage waste from their heads. I remember sailing through masses of dead fish and seeing toilet paper in the water. As the sewage waste digests it deoxygenates the water, and schools of fish swim in and it kills them all. \r \r It was about that time that property owners on shore and watermen started organizing to protect the bay from pollutants. There are technologies that can be applied today that were not available back then, like solar powered bubblers to help oxygenate the water.
The northern end of the bay has some horrible algae blooms while down here closer to the ocean omega and other commercial fishing conglomerates are raping our waters of menhaden. Every fish and crab relies heavily on the huge menhaden grounds but politicians continue to allow them to be in the bay using planes to locate huge pods of menhaden and other baitfish while further restricting the local watermen.
Monsanto has a subsidiary, P4 Production LLC. They operate phosphate mines, a mill, and refinery in Soda Springs ID to produce elemental phosphorus. The entire area of their site and the buffer area is contaminated with toxic selenium, cadmium, and radioactive thorium as a result of this extraction activity. I was surprised to find that most of their production of elemental phosphorus goes into manufacturing Roundup. The use of this herbicide nationally actually adds many tons of free surface phosphorus to the environment every year.
I grew up in the area in the 80s and 90s. I remember hearing stories from my elders that in the 50 and 60 the water was clear in some spots and you could see the bottom. I remember going crabbing after school with my brother with nothing but a chicken leg, net and bucket. It is sad because everybody knows it’s a problem we’ve always known it was a problem. There are times where they have warnings where you can’t even get in the water at the beach because the water is so polluted. It’s the fault of leadership they’ve allowed companies and organizations over the years to dump chemicals and waste into the water basically for campaign funds.
Having live on the bay all my life I’ve witnessed the slow death of a national treasure. Back in the 50s we had abundance of sea grasses that supported numerous species of life. We also had millions up millions of oysters that help filter the water. Once the grasses and oysters died off it started the demise. Despite attempts to correct this problem it continues to spiral downward. I don’t have a magic solution to solve this. Hopefully somebody does
Honestly, anything we try and do at the scale we need it for our population, from raising food (farms and chickens in this case) to handling waste, to harvesting fish for both sport and feeding our people just isn’t maintainable without destroying the environment. We need to change the way we think and do everything in our society if we are going to survive.
I live in Delaware and have a summer home off the elk river I grew up on the Delaware beaches and the Eastern shore it’s truly sad as an angler what all the pollution has done to the Delaware river/ bay and also the Chesapeake and it’s tributaries. I remember being a kid and the old timers telling me stories about how much life and how clean the water used to be. Hopefully one day we can restore it back to the way it used to be.
Knew I shouldn’t watch this, but I did anyway and now I’m disturbed and frustrated. Large problems rarely get solved by a single, big solution and looking to others never seems to help me solve problems of such scope. I’ll look at myself to see what can I do this season. I can’t ask others to find solutions if I’m not pitching in myself. So, I will…find a way to help
Run-off and nutrients is certainly a huge problem but if we’re talking about wanting a healthy ecosystem and living body of water, WHY is nobody talking about OMEGA PROTIEN whiping out the menhaden that are the main food supply of stripped bass and others fish? A corporation is single handedly destroying a part of the food chain and everyone should be talking about this piece of the puzzle as well if we want change.
The Northern Chesapeake Bay I’ve lived around all my life. Back in the 50’s, 60’s the North East River was just as clear as can be, and this river helps feed the Chesapeake. I wouldn’t go swimming then at all now. When they killed off the seaweed back in the late 60’s and harvested the dead grass with paddleboat’s weeks later. I watched it as I was a teenager.
It’s not just climate change, they admitted in the article that in many cases farms are over applying fertilizer, the source of the nutrients, the other issue is run off control, which can be accomplished thru many different means. Monitoring of pollutants from fertilizer is difficult, since first flush from the storm often has the greatest amount of pollution. Funny no one mentioned riparian buffers, which was supposed to be a great way to reduce the impact from storm water runoff years ago. They never found a good way to implement that program, but is probably one of the best ways to control nutrient pollution if you don’t over apply fertilizer and have appropriate runoff controls both up and down slope of the impacted area.
We need to regulate farm off across the country. Farmers must be incentified to use BMPs around our waterways. We need to invest in our infrastructure of sewage treatment plants as they shouldn’t be over flowing into our rivers, lakes, bays. Hire officials for monitoring and enforcement of strict protections of our water. Restore our riparian areas in watersheds everywhere as the vegetation helps remove nutrients and the shade cools water. Water is life! We must adapt or die.
I live in a small town in a bay state. We have invested millions of dollars in storm sewer run off storage and treatment. Each household had to spend $10,000 to reline sewer laterals due to storm water infiltration overwhelming the sanitary sewer treatment plants. The surrounding farms (mainly dairy) have had to change manure management practices to comply with “Save The Bay” regulations. We have been doing our part, only to find that Maryland and DC have not done theirs. 75% of the bay’s problems are from the cities and agriculture that are on the bay, and yet they still continue to $h!t where they eat. The solution will probably be another round of forced “improvements” on those in the Susquehanna watershed, instead of forcing the bay cities to fix their problems.
What a stark contrast to the NW. Over here I have seen so many improvements to our waterways since I was a kid. We are definitely still fighting against our own climate issues but Ive seen so many pollution reduction and habitat restoration projects suceed with tangible results. Even the small town I live in created a large, artificial wetland, to uptake excess nutrients from our sewer effluent.
i fish every day in the Merrimack river up in northern MA. i (very likely) caught more fish from shore in the merrimack last year than any man alive. my most remarkable takeaway from last year (which was good from a fishing perspective,) was the size of the fish. they were mostly large. some schools were very large. big enough to eat a small striped bass. very few small, local fish. it’s not a good thing when you are only getting onto good sized fish. it means that there are very few small fish and that the numbers of fish being born each year are low. the the striped bassh fishery in the Chesapeake is one of the world’s most well monitored, and the numebrs the scientists put out seem to line up with what all of the fishermen have been experiencing; low spawning numbers. it does appear that the slot is being reduced from 28-35″ to 28-31″ to address the poor spawning numbers. that is a start. the best things you can do personally are to make sure you crush your barbs, learn how to handle, revive, and release fish, fish relatively heavy tackle to reduce the fight time, and really take care to revive fish in water over 67 degrees or so. i don’t keep striped bass for a number of reasons, and the spawning numbers in the Chesapeake are as good a reason as any. if you care about the fish, you shoudn’t keep them either. they’ll have a shot of making it up and down the coast and spawning hundreds of thousands of eggs, millions if they get big, and it will all end on your plate if you keep that fish.
i live in the bay area. (Glen Burnie). fishing has picked up. water quality is better than it was in the 70’s and 80’s. crabs and rockfish are coming back. the oyster re-stocking program adds filter feeders to the system. and people on the water are policing themselves, and others better than in past years. the bay isn’t good, but it is better than it has been.
Im a commercial honeybee keeper. I rent hives to farmers who grow watermelon, cucumbers along with everything else that needs pollination. Everyone I’ve spoke to all agree the Chesapeake bay is getting alot better. 40 years ago wild caught oysters were all but gone now there coming back. I believe the bay is getting better.
One of the residents on Smith island runs the Chesapeake bay foundation and although there have been strides to plant oyster farms, water testing and additional clean up efforts… it’s not getting better fast enough. Infact cases of brain eating amoeba have risen in the river and Bay Area (as it only survives in fresh water) …. Locals here mostly blame it on Harrisburg’s sewage system that tends to overflow frequently. The next huge issue is farming runoff which is all up and down the river even on some of the islands like Shelley’s island right over from 3 mile island… Farming is the main thing that will cause it to be a dead zone from all the phosphates. There’s a myriad of problems and mostly a lack of accountability. Also I just heard that the Chesapeake Bay foundation sued Pennsylvania for not cutting its waste into the Bay and won so thats a win. Everyone is reluctant to swim in the Susquehanna south of Harrisburg… it didn’t used to be like that when I was a kid.
I lived most of my life right on the Chesapeake Bay After Hurricane Agnes took out the sea grass beds in 1972 the bay never really recovered Fish and crabs populations are cyclical, I remember when rockfish numbers were so low it was illegal to catch one I think the government just needs to keep the course with what they are doing and things will be OK
Another point that wasn’t pointed out is invasive species are obliterating the ecosystem and biodiversity. The blue catfish is horribly invasive and in parts of the James river has been found to make up 90% of the biomass. Not saying that what they pointed out isn’t an issue rather they forgot to mention this.
Im a commerical crabber(trotline) we crab out of stoney creek on the Patipsico river. And this year thats where the rockfish held up all summer. When i seen the worm out there fishing the key bridge website up from chesapeake beach. And rock creek and stoney creek full of boats flocking from around the bay ro get the fish. But other than that. The spring triphy season is all but dead
It’s so sad. When I was a kid we’d catch some beautiful crabs. They were plentiful and great eating. Now? Lucky if we catch a half dozen for a day of hand catching with chicken necks. Near me I swear you can walk across the water the floats from crab pots are so plenty. It’s a wonder a crab can go 10’ without hitting a crab pot.
I said it 14 years ago, the current plan is a train wreak waiting to happen. I just want to see the reports for the testing and documentation this year. I was not disappointed in 2021 with the condition of the train wreck. Then the EPA is using a settlement agreement to force this plan on the states, but NYS has reminded the EPA, so what law are you using, and NYS loves to submit everything late just to remind the EPA, there is no law to force us and we are not part of the compact.
Look at Paul Stamets he uses oyster mushrooms to eat all of the runoff and weighs coming off of his property from chickens and cows and he used oyster mushrooms to dissolve oil waste and clean up all of this can be taken care of with nature surround the sewage treatment plants the chicken plants all of the water that comes off those properties have to go through oyster mushroom bags the oyster mushrooms will eat all of it and create an ecosystem which will change the environment
Restoration, unfortunately, to politicians means big projects for cronies and nothing to do with actual restoration. Case study: Florida Everglades. If they truly want to restore the Everglades they’ll fill in the canals that connect Lake Okeechobee to the Caloosahatchee and Saint Lucy rivers. But no, they need to spend billions on projects with zero confidence there will be any “restoration”.
The ONLY way to bring the bay back is rid it of people. The cities from Norfolk to Baltimore are the biggest blames, but then agricultural and even residential problems. People love the waterfront, they bulkhead or use rock, it effects natural runoff. The fertilizers from field to lawn, the runoff from roadways to ditches, everything on the whole eastern shore goes to the bay or the ocean. Then the western side is taking the same, because most streams and ditches do the same. Its more than one person to blame, unless you ride a horse and live like they did in the 1800s, you contribute. The money wasted trying to save the bay was also found to be robbed and stolen, which is why I would never contribute. I was raised on the bay; my family were watermen. But my grandfather did many things, he owned a tavern, he run a farm he haul seined, he tonged, crabbed and more. He told us back in the early 70s it was ending, the pollution was decreasing harvest, so to make a living the watermen would wipe them out. Funny how the government will set laws telling how much can be caught, but wont set laws to stop the pollution. Make no mistake, where money is made, there is nothing sacred. My grandfather told us, never put all your eggs in one basket, know many traits. I’m glad I listened. The watermen crying about how the government should help them should yield the same advise. You might have to go get a regular job and be under somebody, but at least you can eat……
There is no wild left in East Coast wilderness on land or sea. I was in University in the early 70’s. This is the future our professors told us about if we did not watch and protect the natural environment. We continued to develop, we were lied to by the capitalist, now we are living in the future and our fisheries have been devastated, our farms are using more and more fertilizers. We do not seem to care about our children’s future. We believe in technology to fix all of our mistakes. We are at the edge, when mistakes are so big, nothing we can do will bring back the natural order of a sustainable world.
There isn’t a fisheries in the United States that isn’t in decline right now. They are all in decline. The secret to a healthy sustainable fisheries is balancing the health of the stock, consumer demand, and environmental concerns. Given human demand, the pressure to harvest stock to the greatest sustainable level will always be problematic because of the “wild card” unpredictability of natural events. Were humans and we will take as much as we possibly can even to the detriment of the resource.
Managed millions of dollars in cost share for conservation work in the Bay area. We spent enough money to pave over the Chesapeake Bay. And for what? Poor urban planning and livestock manures the primary issues. Horse owners major polluters. I managed 4 counties surrounding D.C. Plenty of figures fudged to support accomplishments that never occurred especially in Fairfax County. Saw it firsthand.
Sad, my hobby is reading local history. I have read words of people describing their first visions of the Chesapeake. The vision of crystal clear waters, oyster beds so deep that they would appear the water during low tide. The first stake of Baltimore describes a natural untouched forest on the crystal clear waters of the harbor. Before Brooklyn was Masonville with terrap in living in a cove. Blame chicken poop & Back River….. but NOT Rockefeller’s oil business, the Carroll railroad, or any of the dumping from the former industrial businesses. I live at Middle River = Lockheed Martin should be funding some of the clean up.
To be honest by whats gping on up and down the east cost says the bay is getting better way back in the 70s when you could catch marli. At the jackspot 15 miles off shore becau se the “blue water” was in close due to the bay being a big filter. Now these days its green water 25 miles off and you got to go 40 or more miles for marlin but right now. They are catching blurfin tuna up to 75 inches up to just 1MILE off shore. This is unheard of. The bluewater is very close its awesome
So the politicians can’t enforce the existing laws and they want to make new laws that I am sure they will match the same results. I believe in being a good steward of the resources but making changes that we don’t know what impact they will have makes even less sense. Your trading the problem we know for the problem we don’t know.
Discussing this body of water, & naming farms/ poultry and sewerage failures… (All human error) and, NOT mentioning any of the Government’s activities, properties and or legislative short comings.. Or, perhaps maby the commercial shipping in general…. 🤔 is a failure, and an injustice to the cause !
Of course water quality is a very important concern. But are you saying that there is massive thermal pollution by industry or just echoing the mantra of “climate change ” over which we have minimal ability to affect? Also, did you know that there is a Virginia portion of the bay where menhaden overfishing is a huge issue. Interesting that you ignored that topic.
It’s been a while so I’m fuzzy on the details, but in 2020, I had a school project dealing with climate change in the Chesapeake Bay area. I remember reading a local news article from 2018 or 2019 about the city of Norfolk’s position on climate resiliency. The city council put out a statement that “sea level rise and climate change are happening, but there’s no evidence it’s manmade.” I used to live within an hour of Norfolk and this kind of willful ignorance is pervaisive amongst older generations in the region. It kills me that people are too afraid of admitting any kind of fault to even attempt finding a real solution.
I would like to add an additional comment on the ability of our modern democratic society to make substantial ecological change in degraded ecosystems.. I have had a significant amount of experience as a scientist doing research and problem solving in the San Francisco Bay and estuary. In this system the complexities of multiple layers of local, state and federal government, a network of laws, special comissions and districts, distributed decision making, and legal remedies make consensus for action nearly impossible if not very, very slow. Then one must take into account the uncertainties and unknowns of ecological science in actually knowing what to do and how change might occur in the future. So, I do not believe that it is right to expect goals to met easily or quickly when we are embedded in a morass of constraints. Most professionals are likely trying their best but the challenges are severe.
It’s sad, but most of the bays in America are becoming dead zones. Fishing in the Chesapeake Bay has been bad for years and now the crabbing is terrible. I used to fish at Breezy Point and Sandy Point and catch crab and fish (blue fish, rock, spots, and an occasional flounder) now the only thing biting is catfish. It’s sad but I don’t think the bay will be saved because there isn’t enough political well and public out cry to save. So much of our seafood is already imported and the public doesn’t seem to care.
All plants/refineries/food processing plants should not be on the water for a variety of reasons. Water pollution being one of them. The Only type of plants that should be allowed should be a electrical plant because they turn water movement into energy. Other than that nothing like this should be ON THE WATER.
Whether the bay or any other part of our shared natural environment the common theme in these reports is ‘business’. We continue to sacrifice our future survivability for profit today. The runoff from chicken farming could be contained but corporate growers will object to the cost and lobby to protect their revenues. So the fish lose as they failed to lawyer up. Perhaps the suits being filed can spur the change in industry needed. Save the Bay.
Let’s not leave out the responsibility of PA and NY for their barely abated contribution of runoff into the Susquehanna river that then gets concentrated by the Conowingo Dam and released en Masse during flood conditions and when the gates are at full flow. The conowingo reservoir concentrates all of the PA and NY runoff which has had devastating results on the flats and major impacts on waterfowl species which used to rely on it for their winter migration feeding.
Combine the nation’s most affluent community with a shallow body of brackish water and you’ve got the ingredients for environment trouble. An examination of the fish and mollusks in the Bay will reveal near compete saturation of these creatures with pesticide residue, and traces of pharmaceutical residue. These can be very persistent chemicals. Not good.
Not seeing a place to send corrections, but the article cites Chesapeake Progress while also clearly expressing that Scientific American doesn’t know what that site is. Given all the EPA content, I’m surprised that the Chesapeake Bay Program partnership wouldn’t come up, nor the fact that Chesapeake Progress is a CBP website, not a “group.”
I used to donate to Save the Bay organizations until I realized it was money flushed down the toilet. Then the State of Maryland forced me to pay $60/year as part of my property taxes for bay water quality fees which have done nothing to save the bay. I am 76 yro old and no longer eat seafood from the bay. I expect the bay to be 90+% dead by 2050. I am glad I will not live that long to see it. Money always wins, and that is why water quality laws are not enforced.
I have a unique idea: what if these crabbing and fisheries were required to collect roe sperm from their catch and have to incubate them. Once they are babies, release them into the bay to maintain sustainability of fish. I’m no biologist but If every fishery did this to some extent, would it not help a lot?
I was born and raised in salisbury and delmar. never had any problem there when i was there. you mentioned how the phosphorus gets into the ground water….i gotta say, as one that has built those chicken houses….how the heck did that happen? those brooders are built as well as the houses. though we left in 70 before the choptank incident, seaford and chrisfield have always been active and busy with fishermen. there used to be an active fleet of fishing vessels in the area called skipjacks, the last fleet of sail powered fishing boats, but i assume they’ve gone by the wayside now. doreymen used to come this far south too. you also mentioned global change…..climate warming, whatever it is that you call it now. i find it odd that even knowing that we didn’t even start tracking water temps until the coolest part of the last ice age (aprox 100-150 years ago) all models are based using that as a baseline….that simply isn’t the case. iceland and greenland have made graphs out of reading they got from their perspective ice shelves that go back 20,000 years that clearly show that the “erf” was 2-3.5 degrees warmer then. so the more you folks push the theory, the less sense it makes. and if i hear one more time that the science is settled i’ma blow up. fyi, that isn’t how science works. science is never complete and it goes on and on and is ever changing. heck, even electricity is still a theory. so turn down the cheap rhetoric and get to work on the problem if one exists.
The amount of people in the comment section here bitching that climate change was mentioned as a contributor to the ecological degradation of the bay despite it only being a small portion of the article is hilarious and sad… All ecosystems are affected by local problems as well as global ones. a holistic view of the entire ecological system and the various inputs that have been added or altered by human activity are necessary to understand what is going on, hyperfocusing on only one will not help. If people hyperfocused on CO2 emissions to the exclusion of other things like chemical and nutrient pollution, that would in fact be myopic and stupid! Fortunately that doesn’t seem to be happening here, we are well aware of the many different things harming the bay. The solutions just have a hard time coming to be due to a lack of political will. So yes, any solution that does in fact work will have to acknowledge and address ongoing climate change as part of it, sorry to the crybabies who flip out at the mere mention of it…
You people have been blaming the decline of the bay on farmers falsely. The decline is mostly the result of drag ships towing their mile long nets from both Maryland and Virginia wiping out all life in their wakes. If these ships were put back to sea where they belong the bay would recover in time. Since the states make money from these ships they blame farmers and runoff instead.
Temperature. Back in the “pong” days there was an evolutionary game I played and I can’t even remember the name of it, but one day, I got frustrated with how slowly the animal species were developing. I decided to raise the temperature in my little digital world by a whole two degrees to speed things up a bit and within 12 hours every single species was dead. Just sayin’…
I congratulate humanity for destroying themselves along with most other species. I mean, really, the human species deserves a round of applause because no other species knows how to do it better than humans. Love of money and power trump will always overshadow and outshine preservation of other species and earth or water. I enjoy perusal humanity destroy everything in its path until we cannot sustain outlives anymore. Again, bravo humans, you are truly special in how effective you are in destroying everything.
forgive me for not sympathizing with a fisherman who’s carer of choice directly contributes to the issue in more ways than one. his job is innately responsible for the deaths of thousands of animals, overfishing and habitat destruction. there’s no reason why he should be included in this effort. the bay needs to be saved, not the fishing industry
Maryland needs more and better waste water treatment and to plant more trees, especially on the shores of the bay. We need to concentrate on saving and restoring the bay. Instead my state is going all out to for the environmental folly of solar and wind energy. Even if MD produced 0 greenhouse emissions it would have no measurable effect on climate change, but saving the bay would save not only the bay ecosystem but also the Maryland way of life and what makes MD the great state we are.
Especially in times of pandemics and climate change, it’s really amazing how few people ever even try to go vegetarian (or vegan) for a day, let alone a week, or let alone trying it enough to be able to compare for themselves any noticeable benefits they might have. For something so important for our health, as well as for empathy and for the environment, it’s just amazing…\r \r Plant-based foods are the #RocketFuelOfFood. Three great reasons to #SwitchToVegan / Vegetarian:\r 1) Health\r 2) Empathy\r 3) Environment\r \r Reasons against:\r 1) Habit / tradition?\r 2) Apathy?\r \r #RepublicansAreNazis #EmpathyFreeGOP
“A good law without enforcement is like a lion without teeth”. Let’s try spending less on military colonialism and proxy wars, none of which benefit anyone except the wealthy elite, and spend more on scientific research, public education, and EPA enforcement. The current system will not clean the bay. We must change the system before we can save the bay.
Why aren’t these fishermen equipped, trained and royally paid to harvest algae biomass and chemical concentrates instead of fish? That is valuable fertilizer, right? Harvest and sell that. Clean up the water and leave the fish to grow back in peace for a while. Meanwhile, hire the fishermen to do that job. Figure it out instead of wringing your hands.
I grew up on the bay, Chesapeake beach md…I moved with family to va 3 years ago. I have the solution, thought of it thoroughly as I fished and observed a lot and educated myself on past and present issues. Contact me if you want to solve the problem. It’ll take time but it’s a sure fix. First off people need to remember three mile island meltdown that happened a long time ago, and the fact that dnr sprayed and killed off the s.a.v. in the 80s…lots more to it but just so you know you can’t blame recent chicken farms that existed before both of those things happened…it was fine with chicken shit lol. Not saying that isn’t another factor to be cleaned up but it isn’t complicated to solve that. I just want to be paid for my knowledge…sorry to sound like an arrogant price, I’m really not, just tired of the people at the top leading the way are the problem and lying on top of it
Appreciate the quality of the article and attention that it brings to the issues we are having on the Chesapeake Bay. However, as a native and local, I can assure you that most of the people commenting on here (and in the article) need to re-educate themselves with a non-biased viewpoint to learn the real facts. Critical thinking is something that sadly isn’t taught anymore (for a reason!), and far to many people fall victim to whichever storyline is the loudest. Don’t just take someone’s word for it. Go out and do the research for yourself to find the truth. Find different and independent sources to confirm/deny information. As hard as that is with the censorship we have nowadays, you have to spend the time to do it. Either that, or don’t encourage others to think a certain way when you in fact haven’t critically evaluated more then one focus area within a topic. Few immediate things for you to deeply research and critically think about (from NON Bias sources): #1 Farmer runoff is not the main or even significant cause for the Bay’s issues. #2 The factuality and human impact on “climate change”; start by looking back at their track record and logic. Wont take long if you do your research!
The elephant in the room is that we should all go vegan! Humans do not need to eat animals or what comes out of them to thrive! Going vegan is the single most effective way to minimize your environmental footprint according to the most comprehensive study of the impact of food production on the environment. The study was done at Oxford by Joseph Poore and Nemecek.
Kek at including “climate change” at the end there 😂. If it wasn’t for all the pollution and runoff, there wouldn’t be an issue at all. Also, Maryland and other states have basically made it illegal to start new oyster farms, even though oysters are a keystone species that help to clean water and bring back other species.
Heck half the country won’t even wear mask to protect friends and family! We’re now a lawless nation. Rotting from the head down. This tragedy in Chesapeake bay has been going on most of my 71 years. Every attempt loaded with our most powerfully addictive drug. HOPIUM lulls us to sleep. Every article on conservation has a dose of hopium. This one finishes with hopeful comment and light breezy music. WE NEED ACTION! We’re adding 51 billion tons of greenhouse gases pollution to our shared atmosphere annually. Trapping heat equivalent to heat energy released by detonating 5 Hiroshima type nukes every single second since 1995. 90% of the heat is absorbed by the oceans. Americans have lost their way, little to no protests. Media more interested in net profit than in performing their duties.