This report card provides a transparent, timely, and geographically detailed annual assessment of 2006 Chesapeake Bay habitat health. A report card will be released each year, in early to mid April, providing an assessment of the previous year’s habitat health. 2006 is the first year that the report card has been released. This report card rates 15 reporting regions of the Bay using six indicators that are combined into a single overarching index of habitat health.

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This technical document provides a detailed of the methodology employed in generating the Bay Habitat Health Index used in the Chesapeake Bay Report Card.

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This newsletter describes current and future directions of Ecosystem-Based Fisheries Management (EBFM). While the standard approach to fisheries management has been to focus on one species at a time, EBFM characterizes a greater number of ecosystem components, including the physical and chemical properties of systems. The newsletter explores the current and potential applications of the ecosystem-based approach.

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This newsletter addresses the extreme weather conditions that the Bay area experienced during the spring and summer of 2006 and how these weather conditions affected the summer ecological forecast that was released in May 2006 and other aspects of Bay health. The forecast focuses on dissolved oxygen in the mainstem, harmful algal blooms in the Potomac River and aquatic grasses in three locations in the Bay.

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This newsletter summarizes ongoing development of a model that describes fluctuations in the number of young menhaden within Chesapeake Bay. Using both menhaden spawning stock and striped bass predation potential, the model successfully accounts for most of the variability (~70%) seen in Chesapeake Bay menhaden recruitment.

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This newsletter describes some of the monitoring data and the response from the Chesapeake Bay community to the high rainfall event that moved through the Bay watershed from June 24 to June 28, 2006. In some areas of the watershed, up to 15 inches of rain fell and much of the area received 5 inches or more. The Chesapeake Bay Program quickly organized an effort to monitor and analyze dissolved oxygen, turbidity, chlorophyll a and aquatic grass in the Bay.

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This newsletter describes the methods used and the predictions for the 2006 summer ecological conditions in Chesapeake Bay. The forecast focuses on three important elements of the Bay's health-dissolved oxygen (DO), harmful algal blooms (HABs) and changes in bay grass distribution.

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EcoCheck is a partnership between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science. This newsletter conveys their goals and approach towards improving Chesapeake Bay health. The types of projects on which EcoCheck works are also described in the newsletter.

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This edition of Chesapeake Update provides an overview of water quality and aquatic grass conditions over the summer of 2005. An explanation as to why these conditions occurred is provided–largely a combination of a wet spring followed by a dry, calm and relatively warm summer. The observed conditions are compared to those forecast to occur before the summer, and explanations for any differences is provided.

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This newsletter summarizes the main findings of an ecological forecast aimed at predicting changes in aquatic grass area within Chesapeake Bay for the current growing season. This forecast is part of a new initiative of the Chesapeake Bay Program to forecast a range of ecological conditions for the coming summer.

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