The Wharf is part of the great wall of the Chesapeake Bay. Development along the bay and its rivers, vast swaths of soft shorelines have been turned into stone and below the river’s surface, animals that depend on vegetation in the water may continue to struggle, marine scientists say.
If the trend continues, numerous species in the bay will continue to decline — despite an ongoing federal cleanup plan that seeks to restore the nation’s largest estuary to health by reducing millions of tons of deadly nutrient pollution, scientists say.
The bay estuary contains dozens of micro-estuaries in rivers and creeks that serve as nurseries for hundreds of animals, including fish that start out tiny and hide in grasses before growing and venturing out into the Atlantic Ocean. The bay is key to the health of marine life all along the Atlantic shore.
Read More https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/scientists-worry-that-the-chesapeakes-natural-shoreline-is-turning-into-a-wall/2015/12/26/97f5ab46-a8d7-11e5-9b92-dea7cd4b1a4d_story.html