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Editorial: A tragedy of our age

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation keeps track of the health of our mighty body of water. Last year, due to massive amounts of rainfall, the bay’s grade fell to D+, but the trend line has been toward improvement over the past 20 years. The prior grade of C- was the best since the report card started in 1998.

Truly the states that make up this watershed have a long way to go in restoring the bay. Its ecology grade is now 33. CBF said that a score of 70 would mean the bay is “saved” and 100 would represent the pristine conditions of 400 years ago.

CBF noted some positives: higher oxygen levels and strong growth of underwater grasses, while “assessments of blue crab, rockfish, and oyster populations were unchanged from 2016.”

Still … in spite of general improvement, there seems to be little change in the health of one of the bay’s historic species, the American shad.

Several generations ago, the arrival of these spring-running fishes to spawn in t...

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