EcoCheck website summarizes Chesapeake Bay summer conditions

EcoCheck summer review websiteEcoCheck recently updated its website to provide a review of Chesapeake Bay health last summer. The website summarizes conditions of key indicators such as water clarity, dissolved oxygen, harmful algal blooms, fish kills, and sea nettle occurrence. Last year's drought led to lower than normal nutrient and sediment discharge into the Bay during the summer. With fewer sediments and nutrients entering the Bay, the health of the Bay may have been expected to improve, however, this was not the case for water clarity, harmful algal blooms, and fish kills. While dissolved oxygen in the mainstem was still poor this summer, the volume of oxygen depleted water was relatively small compared to the past 22 years. Produced in collaboration with the Chesapeake Bay Program's Monitoring and Analysis Subcommittee (MASC).