Chesapeake Bay Pollution

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The Chesapeake Bay has faced an excessive amount of pollution over the past century. The water in the bay has become so highly polluted that It is capable of causing harm to humans coming in direct contact with the water. Although algae serves a vital role in the bay’s ecosystem, it also creates a problem that is causing a large amount of the problem.
Species such as the blue crab, oyster, and atlantic menhaden are three main commercial fishing outputs in the Chesapeake bay, but the recent algae blooms are devastating the harvest numbers of several different species. According to the oyster company of Virginia, over 20 million bushels of oysters were harvested every year during the peak of the oyster rush of the mid 1880’s. These numbers …show more content…

According to NOAA phytoplankton are microscopic organisms that continuously convert sunlight and nutrients into living tissue. Phytoplankton can be harmful to the bay because they at an uncontrollable rate causing harmful algae blooms when there is an abundance of nutrients. Phytoplankton also serve as the main food source for a larger but still microscopic organism named Zooplankton. Marine Bio.org did a study on zooplnkton revealing that they are very weak swimmers making them an easy food source for any larger organsim. Zooplanktons’ main purpose serves as the main food source for small fish and …show more content…

Not only are they a critical part of the bays ecosystem, but they serve as a primary food source for humans living near the bay. Some examples of fish from the Chesapeake Bay Program website include: Striped bass, Atlantic Croaker, Atlantic Sturgeon, and even Sandbar Sharks. Fish are at the top of the food chain in the chesapeake bay and they take a large responsibility in keep the ecosystem in check. Some fish feed on almost any living organism they can find while others search the bottom for smaller nutrients. Fish even serve as a food source for scavengers such as birds living along the

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